July 26, 2016
Derek O’Brien urges the Centre to set up a committee to address concerns of debt-stressed States | Full Transcript
Sir, as I ask my first supplementary question, I can see that not only is the current Finance Minister here today, there are two former finance ministers in the House – Dr Manmohan Singh ji and Mr Chidambaram.
The answer provided by the Finance Minister to my question outlines a noble intention – elimination of revenue deficit and build-up of revenue surplus. Sir, I would like to bring to the notice of the Finance Minister, the RBI data of 2015. That data shows that there are 10 states having huge financial burden. The list includes States like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. Sir, the States are burdened with paying back the debt money, specially the debt-stressed States – Bengal, and Punjab and Kerala.
My specific question, Sir, to the Finance Minister, through you, is to give the States some level of confidence. Would the Government consider setting up a committee of State Finance Ministers, headed by the Finance Minister so that this specific problem can be addressed, so that he can meet his noble goal.
Sir, my second supplementary question actually relates to a phrase which the Finance Minister just used – about devolution, which he always keeps talking about, from 32 per cent to 42 per cent. Sir, I have two specific facts on which my second question is based. Sir, the Centre has withdrawn financial support from 39 major schemes which the States were getting. In fact, Sir, in as many as 58 important schemes, the structure of funding – Centre-State share – has been dramatically changed. The Centre has reduced its contribution drastically.
Sir, in case of some schemes such as BRGF, where my State was to receive Rs 6,400 crore, we actually received Rs 2,000 crore. Similarly, when CST rate was brought down from 4% to 2%, the States were supposed to be compensated. Promises were made. Would he consider these two specific cases and release funds for all States, including mine, at the earliest?
