The new state of
Andhra Pradesh state which was comprised by the Seemandhra region unable to get
the status of special category, this was the opinion expressed by the planning commission
department officials. “Andhra Pradesh (Seemandhra) does not meet
National Development Council criteria (for special category
state),” the Commission said in its presentation to Planning
Minister Inderjit Singh Rao.
This point is
significant because the Union Cabinet headed by former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on March 2 had directed the Commission to accord special
category status to successor of Andhra Pradesh (Seemandhra) for five
years.Singh had even
announced in the Rajya Sabha on February 21 that special category status
would be extended to Seemandhra for five years.
Andhra Pradesh has
been recently bifurcated into two states — Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
There are demands for according special category status (SCS) from states
including Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha and Jharkhand. In case of Bihar, an
inter ministerial group has said that the state is not eligible to get SCS
based on existing criteria. However government is yet to take a decision
on Bihar’s demand.The Commission,
however, has intimated to Rajasthan, Odisha and Jharkhand that they are
eligible for getting SCS as per the criteria.
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About according SCS to
Seemandhra, the Commission pointed out to the minister that any such
proposal would have to be endorsed by the country’s apex planning body
National Development Council (NDC) headed by the Prime Minister
with cabinet ministers and all chief ministers on its board.
As per the
Gadgil-Mukherjee formula for devolution of central assistance for state
plans, 30 per cent of the total funds is earmarked for Special Category
States. As against the
composition of Central assistance of 30 per cent grant and 70 per cent
loan for major states, special category states receive 90 per cent plan
assistance as grant and just 10 per cent as loan. The special category
status to various states in accorded by the NDC based on consideration of
a set criteria. The criteria include
hilly and difficult terrain; low population density and or sizeable share
of tribal population; strategic location along borders with neighbouring
countries; economic and infrastructure backwardness and non-viable
nature of state finances. At present, the
existing 11 special category status states are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Tripura, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim.
