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| Subsidies drain JK exchequer by Rs 1250 cr in one go | | Expenditure witnesses upward trend on agriculture, power production subsidies | | Early Times Report
Jammu, June 4: The subsidy offered by the government on various entities in Jammu and Kashmir are draining the public purse out with expenditure spiking from Rs 55 crore to whooping Rs 1304 crore, leaving the fiscal set-up of the erstwhile state in absolute disarray.
Official document in possession of Early Times reveal that the expenditure on subsidy increased by Rs 1,249 crore from Rs 55 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 1,304 crore in 2018-19. Expenditure on subsidies during 2018-19 constituted two per cent of the Revenue Expenditure which is Rs 56,090 crore. The main heads on which subsidy was provided during the year were Power Development Department. The subsidy provided was Rs 1,200 crore and Agriculture Production Department on which the subsidy provided was Rs 12.63 crore. Furthermore, the financial assistance increased from Rs 1,535.35 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 3,325.50 crore in 2018-19. During 2018-19, 75.35 per cent of the total assistance (Rs 3,325.50 crore) was given to the Education and Sports, Art and Culture and the Housing and Urban Development. Apart from the above, financial assistance of Rs 1,144.19 crore was provided to Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Leh Rs 546.24 crore and Kargil Rs 597.95 crore) during 2018-19.
Documents reveal further that the ratio of Capital Expenditure to total expenditure in social and economic service sectors increased from 23.33 per cent in 2016-17 to 28.44 per cent in 2017-18 and decreased to 18.60 per cent in 2018-19 mainly due to decrease under Economic Sector from 38.26 per cent 2017-18 to 23.48 per cent in 2018-19. The decrease in expenditure in Economic Sector was under the heads, Power and Energy, Agriculture and allied Activities and Transport.
Early Times previously reported in detail how Jammu and Kashmir’s financial set up had a liability of Rs 79060 crore in 2018-19. The liability increased to Rs 83573 crore with an increase of Rs 4513 crore in 2019-20. These include Rs 34291 crore market borrowing, Rs 1237 crore loan from the Centre, Rs 3370 crore special security issued in the name of National Small Savings Fund, Rs 3574 crore loan from financial institutions and banks, Rs 692 crore loan from RBI. Rs 37162 crore from PF, 9709 crore from Reserve Fund. Rs 3573 crore were borrowed from Power Bond. The CAG also warned the government of the increasing debt burden back then and asked it to take remedial measures at an earliest.
In the budget for the year 2020-21, additional grant demands of Rs 1200205.75 lakh have been approved by the Central Government for Jammu and Kashmir. It consists of Planning and Development Department- 2935.29 Lakh, Power Development Department-990947.13, Finance Department-199225, Law-1598.10, Revenue-1124.18, Public Works-50158.42, Health-50323.76, Social Welfare-20523.98, Waterpower-50671.06, Fisheries Department 1998.83 an additional grant of was sought.
There are meanwhile reports coming to the fore that the government is mulling to address the affect of subsidies on Jammu and Kashmir fiscal health and measures that are needed to be taken to address such an issue at the first place. |
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