THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K N Balagopal said that the data presented by the Union Finance Minister on fund disbursal to Kerala was wrong.
The data presented by the minister in Parliament was not factual. The Union minister said the NDA government, between 2014 and 2024, disbursed Rs 1,50,140 crore to Kerala. Comparing this with the disbursal during the UPA government is ridiculous considering the changes that occurred in GDP and tax collection over the years.
The Central government robbed the taxation powers of states through GST. Before GST, Kerala’s tax collection had seen a threefold increase. The increase between 2013 and 2024 was only 2.08%. The country’s GDP saw a 10-fold increase between 2004-05 and 2023-24.
But the tax devolution to the state did not see a corresponding increase. Kerala’s tax revenue in 2004-2005 was Rs 2,405 crore. It increased to I21,256 crore in 2023-24. Kerala should have received at least 20% more, he said.
‘Cong leaders weakening protest against Centre’
T’Puram : The stand taken by the Congress party in Kerala is weakening the protest launched by different state governments against the Central government’s financial discrimination, Finance Minister K N Balagopal has said. He said that the state leaders of the Congress have adopted a double stand that the protest by the Karnataka government against the Central government is justifiable and that of Kerala government is unjustifiable. The state leaders of the Congress party dissuaded their national leaders from attending the protest staged by the Kerala government in Delhi. The Congress and the Opposition UDF are running away from their responsibility to support the united fight against the Centre. Balagopal flayed the Centre’s distribution of subsidised rice, Bharat Rice, in Kerala. He said the Centre did not have sincerity towards the people because it charged money for the extra rice supplied to the state during the 2018 floods. The Centre is stifling the state government, said the minister.