Special Status For Andhra Pradesh
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has demanded special state status for the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Special conditions for granting special state status to the state:
- There should be a majority of tribal population and the density of population should be very low.
- Apart from these, backwardness of the state, geographical location, social problems are also its basis.
- The state should be a hilly terrain with inaccessible areas.
- Some part of the state should be on the international border.
- The per capita income and non-tax revenue should be much lower.
- Lack of basic structure.
Provisions in the constitution :
There is no provision of special category status for any state in the Indian constitution. But the former Planning Commission and the National Development Council had made provision for special central assistance under Article 371, assuming that some areas of the country are comparatively backward from other areas. Based on this, some states were later given special state status.
When did states get the status of special status?
- 1969–1974: Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland for the first time during the Fourth Five-Year Plan.
- 1974-1979: Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Tripura during the Fifth Five Year Plan.
- Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram joined the 1990 Annual Plan.
- Uttarakhand got this status in 2001.
Benefits from special state status :
- States meeting these criteria have 90 percent grant and 10 percent loan in the amount provided under Central Cooperation.
- Other states are given 70 percent loan in the form of Central Cooperation and 30 percent in the form of grant.
- After granting special category state status, the central government has given special package facility and tax relief to these states.
- This encourages the private sector to invest in these areas, which provides employment to the people of the region and ensures their development.
- The first chapter of the 12th part of the constitution mentions the financial relations of the center-states.
Dr. Gadgil Formula:
- The Third Five-Year Plan, that is, until 1961–66 and again from 1966–1969, the Center did not have a fixed formula for granting grants to states.
- While formulating the Central Assistance Formula in 1969, the Fifth Finance Commission approved the Gadgil formula giving special status to three states – Assam, Nagaland and Jammu and Kashmir.
- The basis of this was the economic backwardness of these states, the difficult geographical location and the social problems prevailing there. In the following years, along with the remaining five states of the Northeast, three other states were also given this status.
- The resources that are left after meeting the requirements of special category states, they are distributed on the basis of 60% of the population, 25% on per capita income of the state, 7.5% on the basis of fiscal performance and 7.5% on the special circumstances of these states.
Source – The Hindu
