Hyderabad: Without saying a definite “yes” or “no” to the demand for Special Category Status to AP, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday made it clear that as an alternative to the SCS, the Central government had been according special financial assistance to AP and would continue to do so. He said that the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission had virtually tied the Central government’s hands and they had come after the assurance of special category status was given in the Rajya Sabha.
Mr Jaitley added that special status was related to the development of the state and there should not be any political capital out of it. Expressing serious dissatisfaction over the Union minister's reply, the main Opposition Congress staged a walkout in protest. Meanwhile CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said that the “Finance minister’s speech was more confusing with regard to the special status”.
Replying to the two-day special discussion on “Status of implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and government’s assurances” on Friday evening in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaitley said that when the 14th Finance Commission recommendations came in for consideration by the Union Cabinet, which included a hike of the states’ share in Central revenues to 42 per cent from the earlier 32. “We accepted the recommendations as part of up keeping federalism and the Constitutional concept of India as a union of states. This has virtually tied our hands to go beyond to consider a demand like the special status. This was not part of the AP Reorganisation Act, and it was an assurance given by the then Prime Minister in the House. We have carefully worked out an alternative in lieu of the special status and have decided to assist AP as a special case and we have been pumping more money into the state than its entitlement,” Mr Jaitley said.
On bridging the revenue deficit of AP, Mr Jaitley said the Centre had already provided funds but there was an issue between the Central and state governments over computation and assessment of the figures which would be sorted out soon. At this stage, Union minister Sujana Chowdary intervened and said it was unfortunate that even after two years, the issue was still unsolved. “It is not an arithmetic issue, let us resolve this once and for all,” Mr Chowdary said. Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurian at this point said: “It is unusual for a minister to object to another minister, ruling party members cannot interrupt the proceedings.”
Responding to the points made by the members, Mr Jaitley clarified that Uttarakhand was given special category status because it fit the requirements made out for according the status and reminded the House that the same was denied to Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as they did not qualify the guidelines. He also said then the National Development Council had recommended special category status for a few states and even the 13th Finance Commission had also agreed. “Under special category status, states will get 90 per cent of funds for projects and other states will get anywhere around 60 per cent. In case of AP, the 14th Finance Commission had not recommended special category status, it also said let there be no discrimination like special category and ordinary category among states. We could not reject the recommendations as the finances of all states were involved. Demands for special category status also came from other states like Bihar and Odisha. So we have decided to pump funds from various other alternatives to see that it (AP) gets more money than others,” Mr Jaitley said. He added that bridging the revenue deficit of states by the Centre had been going on for the states of West Bengal, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Giving details of funds allocation, the Finance minister said that before the 14th Finance Commission recommendations, united AP was to get Central assistance of Rs 1,10,725.82 crore, out of which divided AP’s share would have now been Rs 64,575.30 crore. But as per the alternative worked out by the Centre for AP, like 42 per cent funds on par with all states plus grants plus special grants etc., it was now pegged at Rs 2,06,901 crore. He said despite two years’ of continuous drought, the burden on account of implementation of Pay Commission recommendations and overall global economy slow down, the Central government was also suffering with finances. 'However, I am assuring that handholding for the state of AP will continue further and all assurances and commitments will be honoured,” Mr Jaitley said.
