The Union Cabinet substantially hiked the special grant for Bihar to Rs.12,000 crore for the next four years which is being seen as UPA’s attempt to appease chief minister Nitish Kumar at a time when the JD(U)-BJP alliance in the state is on the brink of collapse. The Cabinet’s approval to extend the special allocation during the 12th plan with a handsome hike in special grant comes ahead of the second leg of Parliament’s budget session starting on April 22.
The move is seen as Congress’s attempt to woo JD(U) at a time when the UPA government is facing instability after the pullout of DMK and dependence on “unpredictable” UP political outfits SP and BSP for survival.
Announcing the decision, I&B minister Manish Tewari said the Cabinet had approved continuation of an existing scheme and “the correct interpretation (of the decision) would be that there is a substantial enhancement”. However, Tewari denied the decision was politically motivated. “Administrative decisions should not be linked to politics. But in a democracy, people are free to draw their own conclusions,” he said. The hike is double than what Bihar got (around Rs 5,500) during the 11th five-year plan (2007-12). The state was getting special support of Rs.1,000 crore every year since Jharkhand was carved out in 2000. The grant was to be discontinued but Kumar managed to keep it going in the 11th five-year plan.
Along with Bihar, the Cabinet allocated Rs 1,250 crore for backward Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput districts in Odisha and Rs 4,400 crore for the Bundelkhand region.
No comments:
Post a Comment