Nirmala Sitharaman puts stop to demand for Special Category state status
By Sukanta Kumar Mohanty
BHUBANESWAR, FEB. 17: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday put a stop to the demand for Special Category State (SCS) raised by many states. She said the SCS status had lost its relevance following a recommendation by the Finance Commission.
Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Union Budget 2023-24, she said, “The Finance Commission has clearly said that no special category status will be given to any state. Telangana was an exception. It was awarded the Special Category status during the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation.”
On allegations of Centre reducing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) funds to Odisha in the budget, Sitharaman said, “The fund allocation for MGNREGA has not really gone down. We keep increasing the allocation as and when the demand increases because the scheme itself is a demand-driven scheme. If you will review the previous 7-8 budgets, every time the initial allocation of the MGNREGA is revised later in the year with an increase in demand.”
“It is one thing to allocate money in the budget and another thing to monitor the ground situation and revise the budget as per the demand. And the most important thing is to implement the scheme on the ground and ensure that the money is actually spent,” she said.
On bringing petrol and diesel prices under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Sitharaman said, “The GST council will have to take a call on this. Petrol and diesel have already been brought under the GST. Only the rates have not been determined. As soon as the GST rates are finalised by the GST council which has finance ministers of all the states, we will put it on the GST list.”
Sitharaman also highlighted that the states are being provided interest-free loans for 50 years by the Centre. This year’s budget has put emphasis on scheduled castes and tribes. They will get benefits from the Awas Yojana and Har Ghar Nal scheme, she said.
