Congress slams govt over J&K budget
New Delhi, July 26
The Congress on Friday accused the government of “unprecedented fiscal mismanagement”, and said while Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was generous to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, she was not so with Jammu & Kashmir.
On July 23, Sitharaman presented the Budget for Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament.
“The present Finance Minister has the dubious distinction of being the only Finance Minister of India who has presented six state budgets, since the Union government has refused to hold Assembly Elections since the dissolution of the J&K Legislative Assembly in November 2018,” said Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications.
“It is our sincere hope that the next J&K Budget is presented in the J&K legislature by an elected Finance Minister and discussed by legislators elected by the people of J&K,” he said.
Last year, the Finance Minister promised to raise Rs 7,800 crore in Additional Resource Mobilisation (ARM), but managed to raise only Rs 1,000 crore, he said.
“The fiscal deficit, which was pegged at 1.6 per cent, has turned out to be 5.36 per cent in FY24 – more than three times the original estimate. Capex has been slashed by 10. Meanwhile, under the Union Government’s tutelage, the share of J&K in national GDP has declined from 0.9 per cent in 2015-16 to 0.8 per cent in 22/23,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh asked how the state’s poor financial situation square up with the tax/GDP ratio of the state increasing from five per cent to eight per cent in three years.
“Are the people of J&K being subject to heavy taxation without any corresponding increase in their welfare?, he asked.
Pointing out that the government takes credit for fiscal prudence at the national level, Ramesh said would it take the blame for this fiscal profligacy at the state level.
“The unemployment rate in J&K in February 23 was 17 per cent as compared to 6.6 per cent in Andhra and 12.3 per cent in Bihar. Why has the FM chosen to be benevolent to AP and Bihar, but not to J&K? he asked.
On Sitharaman’s announcement that “the Union Government has agreed to take the entire burden of the Budget of the police in J&K by spending Rs 12,000 crore, Ramesh said: “This was earlier being done by the Union Government as part of the Security Reimbursement Expenditure (SRE) since the onset of militancy in the early 1990s. When this is not a unique, new financial obligation, why has it been repackaged from a ‘reimbursement’? Ramesh asked.
Has the police salary liability been taken over by the Union Government in perpetuity reflecting the government’s intention to rule the state from Delhi forever? Ramesh asked.
