Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says no to special category status for states
Mangalore Today News Network
New Delhi, Feb 18, 2023: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday ruled out special category status to states and disinvestment in Navratna central public sector enterprise Nalco.
Responding to the media query on the Centre’s decision to the demands of special category status from states, including Odisha, Sitharaman said the Finance Commission has made it clear that no special category status can be given to any state.
“That’s the reason why there are demands from many other states like for instance Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which during the bifurcation the special category status demand was considered. But the Finance Commission’s clear opinion was no more special category status,” she clarified.
Special category status is a classification given by the Centre to states having socio-economic disadvantages like hilly terrains, strategic international borders and economic and infrastructural backwardness.
Only 11 states have been accorded the status so far. Odisha has been demanding the status by citing frequent occurrences of natural calamities and vast backward regions.
The union finance minister also put to rest all speculations on the possibility of a sale in government stake in Nalco.
“We follow a calibrated disinvestment strategy, which is pragmatic and it does not distort the market. The disinvestment target has been set realistically. However, Nalco is not in the disinvestment list,” she said.
On an outlay of Rs 35,000 crore made in the budget to achieve energy transition, she categorially said it is not a ‘subsidy’ which is being given indirectly as wrongly pointed out by some. “It has been allocated on two grounds. We have to do a transition from fusil fuel to renewable energy. Many of the refineries will have to update their plant and machinery capacity and be also ready for blending of fuel because we are bringing in biofuels and ethanol. We also want to make sure our strategic resources are filled up adequately,” she reasoned.
Sitharaman said the GST compensation regime has been extended till 2026 to repay the loans taken during the Covid-19 pandemic as per the decision of the GST council. The loans were taken to pay the states some amount of the total compensation to be paid. The states are not going to lose anything as the GST revenue is going up every month post pandemic, she said.
The finance minister said petroleum products can be part of GST and what is needed is the nod from the GST council in which the finance ministers of all states are members.
“My predecessor had already included petrol and diesel into the GST fold. What they did not include was the rate for the products. As soon as the rate is determined by the GST council, it gets added to the list of rates. It is the council to decide on the rates. The provision is already made and the council’s decision on the rates is awaited,” she said.
Disagreeing that allocation for Ujjwala scheme has dropped significantly from Rs 310 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 0.01 crore in 2023-24 as it finds no takers, she maintained that the allocation was reduced in the budget following saturation of the connection target.
On the 2023-24 budget, the minister said, the continued push on infrastructure building through higher capex allocation is to keep India’s economic growth momentum intact.
Sitharaman also denied that the allocation for MGNREGA and paddy procurement has been reduced. She said the rural employment guarantee programme is a demand-driven scheme. “Whenever there is an increase in demand, the provisions will go up. We also want to ensure that the fund is well spent,” she added.
Courtesy: Indian Express