Setback to Andhra: Centre refuses to grant special category status
Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in a reply to a question by YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy
By Newsmeter Network Published on 30 March 2023 5:44 AM GMT
Amaravati: Centre has once again made it clear that there would be no special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
However, it has agreed to give special assistance to Andhra Pradesh to make up for the additional central share the state might have received during 2015-16 to 2019-2020 if the funding of centrally sponsored schemes would have been shared at the ratio of 90:10 between the center and the state.
Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in a reply to a question by YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy said Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) had not made any distinction between General Category States and Special Category States in the horizontal distribution of shareable taxes amongst the States. As per the recommendations of the FFC, the Union Government had decided to increase the share of net shareable taxes to the States from 32% earlier to 42% for the period 2015-20.
The same has also been retained by the Fifteenth Finance Commission at 41% (1% adjusted on account of the creation of UT of J&K) for the period 2020-21 & 2021-26. The objective has been to fill the resource gap of each State to the extent possible through tax devolution. Also, Post-Devolution Revenue Deficit Grants have been provided to States where devolution alone could not cover the assessed gap.
The special assistance is to be provided by way of repayment of loan and interest for the Externally Aided Projects (EAPs) signed and disbursed during 2015-16 to 2019-20 by the State, the minister added.
When Vijayasai Reddy wanted to know the details of existing North-Eastern and Hilly States who were granted Special Category Status and benefits derived from Special Category Status, the minister said that for the eight North Eastern States, Himalayan States of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and UT of Jammu & Kashmir, as per the recommendations of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on the Rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, the sharing pattern of funding of Core Schemes under Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) is 90:10 between Centre and State. For the rest of the States, the sharing pattern is 60:40.
