Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei today slammed the Centre for adopting dual standards so far as grant of special financial assistance is concerned.
While the latest findings of the Planning Commission-appointed Suresh Tendulkar Committee put Orissa at the bottom of the poverty level after Bihar, the Centre has been ignoring the demand for granting special category state status to it.
The Tendulkar Committee report came close on the heels of the NC Saxena Committee report which had recommended to the Plan panel to revise the number of BPL families from 47.81 per cent to 84.47 per cent as per the kilo calorie consumption. The Saxena Committee was appointed by the Rural Development Ministry to suggest methodology to estimate poverty.
If the poverty estimate by two separate committees of the Centre admitted high incidence of poverty in the State, there is no denying the fact that the State needs special assistance, the Finance Minister said.
“It is the responsibility of the Centre to bridge regional disparities among states by providing adequate Central assistance,’’ he said and regretted that the Centre is always apathetic to Orissa.
As the State resources are limited, it largely depends on the Central assistance to meet the capital expenditure. The Centre should now realise the ground situation and take immediate measures to treat Orissa as a special category state, he said.
Under centrally sponsored programme, the Central share is 90 per cent for special category state while the balance 10 per cent is the State’s share.
Presently, the Centre-state ratio is 70:30 in all the centrally assisted programmes.
More poor people of the State will be benefited under welfare schemes like Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and National Old-age Pension if the Centre accepted the report of either Saxena or Tendulkar Committee, the Finance Minister said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had taken up the issue with the Centre time and again. However, the Centre has been rejecting the State plea saying it does not fit the criteria set for granting special category status.
In that case, the Centre needs to change the criteria to accommodate Orissa under special category, Ghadei said.
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