The Special Category status that the previous UPA government had promised to Andhra Pradesh on the grounds of loss of revenue may not be coming easy, as the Centre told the Lok Sabha earlier this month that neither Andhra Pradesh nor Telangana meet the criteria for that status. Telangana, too, has demanded the Special Category status.
With the Centre having dismantled the Planning Commission – which had the authority to alter the criteria – both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will have to wait until a new planning mechanism is formed.
The Special Category State status makes a State eligible to receive additional funds from the Centre. It is granted to States on grounds of hilly and difficult terrain, low population density and/ or sizable share of tribal population, strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries, economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of State finances.
In a written response to a question in Parliament, the NDA government has said that the request for Special Category State status received from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are under consideration.
Recently, representations/demands have been received “again” from Odisha, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bihar, as well as from Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for grant of Special Category status, Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a response to a question from Lok Sabha MP Dr. Boora Narsaiah Goud. “These demands are under consideration,” the Minister said.
When contacted, Dr. Goud told The Hindu that he had been informed by the government that both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana do not qualify for the grant of the status of Special Category State under the present criteria. As the body that can change the criteria is the Planning Commission, which no longer exists, so the two States will have to wait till a new planning body is set up, Dr. Goud said.
The Narendra Modi government had on August 13 scrapped the resolution under which the Planning Commission was set up. It has not replaced the commission with another body as yet.
Before the Lok Sabha elections, the UPA government had assured the Seemandhra region of the Special Category status. In February, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in Parliament that the Seemandhra region will be granted Special Category State status for five years. “For the purpose of Central assistance, Special Category status will be extended to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh comprising 13 districts, including the four districts of north coastal Andhra for a period of five years. This will put the States’ finances on a firmer footing,” Dr. Singh had said.
