Lok Sabha Question No. 2136 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-11
Subject: Special Status to States
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: M. CHANDRAKASI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE

## PLAN FINANCE-I DIVISION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2136

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY THE 11 th  DECEMBER 2015 / 20 AGRAHAYANA, SAKA 1937

## Special status to States

2136. SHRI M. CHANDRAKASI:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the  criteria/guidelines  adopted  by  the  Government  for  granting  special  status  to States/UTs;
- (b) the  details of States granted Special Category during the last three  years and the current year, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to dispense with the system of   according special status to States/UTs;
- (d)   if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the details of special assistance granted to States/UTs not covered   under the Special Status other than contingency and disaster funding?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI JAYANT SINHA)

(a)  to  (d)  Special  Category  Status for plan assistance  was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to 11 States that are characterized by a number of  features  necessitating  special  consideration.    These  features  include:    (i)  hilly  and difficult terrain (ii) low population density and / or sizeable share of tribal population (iii) strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries (iv) economic  and infrastructural  backwardness  and  (v)  non-viable  nature  of  state  finances.  Those  11 States are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. The Special

Category Status was granted to Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) at the 49 th NDC meeting held on September 1, 2001.

Fourteenth Finance commission, in para. 2.29 of their report has stated that they have not  made  a  distinction  between  special  and  general  category  states  in  determining norms and recommendations. However, the Committee constituted in  NITI Aayog for deciding on the Sharing pattern of CSS has recommended that the funding pattern of the  17  core  schemes,  which  form  part  of  the  National  Development  Agenda,  will  be retained with the sharing pattern of 60:40 between the Centre and the States (90:10 for the  8  North-Eastern  and  3  Himalayan  States).  The  funding  pattern  of  the  schemes namely  MGNREGA,  NSAP,  UMBRELLA  Programmes  for  development  of  SC,  ST, differently abled person, minorities, backward classes and vulnerable group will remain unchanged. All other schemes will be optional for the State Governments and their fund sharing pattern will be 50:50 between the Centre and the States (80:20 for the 8 NorthEastern and 3 Himalayan States).

(e)  Special  Assistance  of  Rs.  20000  crore  has  been  provided  in  Demand  No.  37 (Transfer to State and  Union  Territory Governments)  of  Ministry  of Finance  in Expenditure Budget Vol.II of Union Budget 2015-16. The Central Govt. has approved allocation of Special Assistance as shown in the Annex-I. So far, an amount of Rs. 700 crore  has  been  released  to  Govt.  of  Andhra  Pradesh  (Special  Assistance  of  Rs.  350 crore @Rs. 50 crore per district for the development of 7 backward districts covering Rayalaseema & North Coastal region and Rs.350 crore for State Capital) and Rs. 552 crore has been released to the State Government of Tamil Nadu to deal with the post Fourteenth  Finance  Commission  related  issues.  Also,  Rs.  116.22  crore  has  been released to Uttarakhand for long term reconstruction package, 2013.

## Annex-I

## Annex referred to in reply to part (e) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2136 for answer on 11.12.2015

(Rs. in crore)

| S. No.   | Proposed support in brief                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |   Approved amount |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
| 1        | One time grant towards earlier sanctioned projects under BRGF- State Component (including KBK districts of Odisha , Special Plan for Bihar, Special Plan for West Bengal, Bundelkhand package for MP&UP), PMRP 2004 & Flood Rehabilitation Plan 2014 for J&K, Uttarakhand Medium & Long term Reconstruction Package 2013. |              4950 |
| 2        | One time assistance to areas covered under Sixth Schedule of the of the Constitution.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |              1000 |
| 3        | Irrigation projects                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |              2800 |
| 4        | One time assistance towards support for LWE districts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |              1000 |
| 5        | One time assistance towards support for developing water sources for arsenic and fluoride affected areas.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |              1000 |
| 6        | One time assistance towards support for States covered by Andhra Pradesh Re-organization Act.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |              2000 |
| 7        | One time assistance towards support to States to deal with post 14 th Finance Commission related issues (for projects to be posed by the States)                                                                                                                                                                          |              1500 |
| 8        | Additional fund recommended for ICDS, NRDWP and Dept. of Health & Family Welfare                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |              4750 |
| 9        | One time assistance for Modernization of State Police Forces                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |               700 |
| Total    | Total                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |             19700 |

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