VIJAYAWADA: The Centre has once again reiterated that Andhra Pradesh has been given a special package instead of Special Category Status (SCS).
Responding to a question raised by YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the 14th Finance Commission had not made any distinction between the General Category States and Special Category States in the horizontal distribution of shareable taxes. “As per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the Union Government had decided to increase the share of net shareable taxes to the States from 32% to 42% for the period 2015-20,’’ he said.
Nityanand Rai added that the same has also been retained by the 15h Finance Commission at 41% (1% adjusted on account of creation of Union Territory of J&K) for the period 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 the States where devolution alone could not cover the assessed gap,’’ he explained.
The Union Minister said the Centre had agreed to give special assistance to the State of AP to make up for the additional Central share the State might have received from 2015-16 to 2019-20 if the funding of Centrally Sponsored Schemes would have been shared at the ratio of 90:10 between the Centre and the State.
On the status of North-Eastern and Hilly States, which were granted SCS, he said eight North-Eastern States, Himalayan States of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and UT of Jammu and Kashmir, got the benefit as per the recommendations of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on the Rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The sharing pattern of funding core schemes under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes is 90:10 between the Centre and State. For the rest of the States, the sharing pattern is 60:40, Nityanand Rai elaborated.