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| 'Allotment of funds to Jammu region; Discriminatory, arbitrary, lopsided' | | State Finance Commission Report-Part 1 - - - Tax collection far less in Kashmir region | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Nov 28: Criteria for allotment of funds by respective government since the year 1953 for developmental schemes in Jammu and Kashmir regions separately has remained discriminatory, arbitrary and lopsided.
Owing to reasons better known to the ruling elites of the state, Kashmir region has got far higher plan allocations than Jammu region. On the contrary, despite getting higher plan allocation, Jammu region supersedes Kashmir in the payment of taxes. From VAT/GST collection to payment of excise duty, Jammu has a clear edge over Kashmir.
These spine chilling revelations have been made by State Finance Commission (SFC) in its five volume report submitted to the government on November 30, 2010. A copy of the report is with Early Times. Commission was headed by ace economist Dr. Mahmood-ur-Rehman and included Swami Raj Sharma, Prof. Nisar Ali and Sonam Dawa as its members. It took on board three consultants and 7 officers of the state government.
It was constituted on August 31, 2006 for a period of one year and assigned the task of examining eight points of references i.e Review state of finances, suggest restructuring of public finances, restoring budgetary balance, achieving macro-economic stability, studying regional disparities, identifying backward districts and debt reduction. The report was tabled during the last budget session of the assembly in Jammu.
Report has disclosed that during the 8th five year plan (1992-1997), Kashmir region was allocated Rs. 12347 Lakh while Jammu region got just Rs. 10007 Lakh i.e. Jammu region has been allotted Rs. 2340 lacs less as compared to Kashmir region in Agriculture and allied sectors. In the 9th five year plan (1997-2002), Kashmir region has been allotted Rs. 23150 lacs while Jammu region has been allotted Rs. 17757 lacs i.e. Rs. 5393 lacs less as compared to Kashmir region.
Similarly, during the tenth five year plan (2002-2007), Kashmir region's plan allocation in agriculture and allied sectors is Rs. 2185 lacs higher than Jammu region. Even in the ongoing 12th five year plan, Kashmir region has been allocated Rs. 3705 lacs higher than Jammu region. This higher allocation is Kashmir region is despite the fact that irrigated area in Jammu region is a little more than Kashmir.
In the Roads and Buildings Department, Jammu region got Rs. 16455 lacs against the allotment of Rs. 24124 lacs to Kashmir region i.e. Rs. 7669 lacs less than Kashmir region. Similarly during the 9th and 10th plan, Jammu region's allocation despite having most of the sub-regions with worst road connectivity, has been Rs. 17031 lacs and Rs. 15208 lacs less as compared to Kashmir region for respective five year plans.
Further, this huge disparity in the allocation of funds is not understandable in the wake of the fact that 1401 villages are yet to be connected with roads in Jammu region while there are just 314 villages in Kashmir valley where mettled road have not reached. Commission has termed this as arbitrary and discriminatory allocation. Similarly, while referring to the Rural Development and Allied sectors, the SFC report has pointed out that Kashmir got allocation of Rs.6810 lacs while Jammu got Rs. 5642 lacs i.e. Rs. 1168 lacs less as compared to Kashmir region during the 8th five year plan (1992-1997).
For the 9th and 10th five year plans, Kashmir region has been allocated Rs. 1254 lacs and Rs. 3593 lacs higher than the Jammu region. More importantly, even during the ongoing 11th five year plan, Jammu region has been allocated Rs. 14130 lacs less than the Kashmir region. SFC report has termed this as blatant arbitrary and discriminatory allotment of funds while pointing towards the fact that Jammu region is almost double the size of the area of Kashmir region.
In the 8th five year plan (1992-1997) under Health and Medical Education sector, Kashmir region has been allocated Rs. 1195 lacs less as compared to Jammu region. Similarly, in the 9th and 10th five year plans, Jammu region has been allocated Rs. 5053 lacs and Rs. 12190 less than Kashmir region. Even during the ongoing 11th five year plan, Jammu region has been allotted Rs. 30956 lacs less than Kashmir region.
On the contrary, brighter side for Jammu region is collection of Taxes. During the 9th plan (1997-2002), GST/VAT collection in Jammu was Rs. 750.30 crore while in Kashmir region, the collection was around Rs. 307 crore. Similarly, during the 10thplan, GST/VAT collection in Jammu soared to Rs. 2123.42 crores while in Kashmir region, the collection was around Rs. 955.18 crore.
Similar, surge in revenue collection on account of payment of passenger tax, property tax and excise duty has been noted in Jammu region when compared with Kashmir region by the commission. Besides, aggregate development index of Kashmir region is far higher than Jammu region. Though the gap has narrowed down during the last two decades yet Kashmir region supersedes Jammu in all spheres of development.
To be continued……. |
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