In 2017-18, West Bengal accounted for 15 per cent of the total contributions made to the NSSF; its share increased from 12.4 per cent in 2007-08 A day after the finance ministry announced a reduction in rates on small savings schemes as part of its periodic review, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was quick to announce a rollback of the move on Thursday morning, calling it an “oversight” In a tweet, the FM said: “Interest rates of small savings schemes of GoI shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quarter of 2020-2021, ie, rates that prevailed as of March 2021. Orders issued by oversight shall be withdrawn.” If the ministry had gone ahead with its plan to lower the rates on small schemes up to 1.1 per cent, it would have been a second cut in two years and brought savings rate on many schemes, such as the Public Provident Fund (PPF), to historic lows. In the April-June quarter of last year, too, the government had cut rates on small...