Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu asserted in the Assembly on Tuesday that Andhra Pradesh eminently qualified for Special Category Status by virtue of non-viable nature of the State finances and the economic and infrastructure backwardness.
Making a statement on the issue in the Assembly, he said that A.P. being a newly created State without capital and infrastructure has several reasons for being qualified as Special Category state. Although the 14th Finance Commission did not make an explicit distinction between special category and general category States while determining norms and recommendations, it did take into account the cost disability and fiscal capacity of the States.
Observing that Central Government had not abolished the distinction between special category and general category states, he said that it was evident from the 14th Finance Commission report that A.P. would be the only State, other than the Special Category states, that would have subsisting revenue gap even in 2019-20 and potentially afterwards.
Mr. Naidu said that even States that had been traditionally fragile from the fiscal stability angle such as Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan, would have a revenue surplus after 42 per cent devolution starting 2015-16 financial year. “ Consequently, Andhra Pradesh is and will continue to be the most fiscally disadvantaged state in the country” he added.
He said that the case of A.P. to include in the Special Category states became stronger following Central Government’s decision to recast the centrally-sponsored schemes.
