At a time when the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is repeatedly knocking on the Centre’s doors demanding Special Category Status (SCS) to the State, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has made its stance clear on the issue and said there was no such proposal under consideration.
Answering a question raised by JD(U) MP Kaushalendra Kumar in Lok Sabha as to whether the government was considering the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and some other economically backward states, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified there was no such proposal under consideration. She further said the Centre has been receiving requests to grant SCS to Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
“SCS for plan assistance has been granted in the past to some States that are characterised by a number of features necessitating special consideration,” the minister said.
“These features include: hill and difficult terrain, low population density or sizeable share of tribal population, strategic locations; economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of state finances. Special Category Status for plan assistance to any state has been granted based on an integrated consideration of these criteria,” she clarified.
She added the special status did not provide any specific measure for growth of industries. It may be mentioned that Jagan Mohan Reddy had taken up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately after election results were out.