Chief minister Siddaramaiah in the budget has criticised the Union government for, on one hand increasing the share of the central devolution to states and on the other hand, reducing their support to the central sector schemes.
The Union government increased the state’s share from 32 per cent to 42 per cent in the central devolution to the states. The budget claims that instead of more resources available for the State government due to this increase in the state’s share, it had resulted in an overall net loss of Rs 1,987 crore to the state.
Siddaramaiah said “while certain central schemes like JnNURM and Backward Regions Grant Fund have been completely dropped, for many other schemes the central share has been drastically reduced. What is very disturbing is that even in very important sector including drinking water supply (NRDWP), agriculture, child nutrition, major cuts have been made. They have also not spared the much publicised Swachcha Bharat programme.”
The budget also points out that according to a new methodology adopted, the Union government has estimated the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the IT sector in the state at only 15 per cent, while it was at least 33 per cent. As the state’s borrowing capacity of the state is determined as a proportion of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), borrowing capacity of the state had reduced.
