Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made light of the Telangana government’s charge that the Centre was usurping the 41 % States’ rightful share of tax devolution recommended by the XV Finance Commission in the form of cesses and surcharges.
The Minister averred that more has been disbursed to the States than what had been collected from them. If ₹1,000 crore was collected from the States, for instance, the Centre was giving them ₹2,000 crore. “Drawing from the Consolidated Fund of India, we give allotments to the States and I have clarified the issue in Parliament itself. Parliament is not a place where you can forget the answers given,” she said.
The Minister took an indirect dig at Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for claiming that governance during the previous government headed by Manmohan Singh was better than that of the current dispensation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I have also heard about the claims made in the Assembly. The Narendra Modi government has spent more than what has been allocated in the budget in all the schemes,” she asserted.
She also criticised the State government for its claims that the Centre had not allocated a single medical college to the State among the 157 set up across the country. “We sought the list of districts where the proposed colleges are to be set up. The State government had sent the names of Karimnagar and Khammam where medical colleges are already existing,” she said. She criticised the Telangana government for dubbing the NDA as no data available government and questioned why had not the State sent the name of districts where there were no medical colleges. “Does the State government not have data about the infrastructure and facilities in the 33 districts of the State?” she wondered.
Ms. Sitharaman explained how the Centre’s emphasis on capital expenditure was paying dividends with the States evincing keenness in implementing the reforms to avail of the funds. “The first year was doubtful. But the State’s started picking up funds implementing the conditions prescribed therein. States are now asking for more than what has been prescribed in the XV Finance Commission,” she said.
She dismissed criticism that the Centre had steeply reduced allocations to the rural employment guarantee scheme claiming that it was a demand-driven programme and allocations would be made accordingly. “Moreover, the Centre is allotting more funds that presented in the budget estimates. The previous government had spent three times less than what was projected in the budget estimates and this details were presented to Parliament,” she said.
