'State will get less funds from Centre'

Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda fears Karnataka would get less financial allocation than projected by the Centre. 

The Centre has been claiming that allocation of funds to states would go up to 42 per cent from 32 per cent. This is not going to be true. Many social welfare schemes, including those related to agriculture, would be hit, he told reporters here on Friday. 

The Union government will reduce allocation for many schemes, negating the increase in allocation by the finance commission. 

For example, Byre Gowda said, under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the Centre had set aside Rs 8,444 crore last year. 

But the allocation has been reduced to Rs 4,500 crore this year. This would mean Karnataka’s share would come from Rs 800 crore to Rs 400 crore, the minister said. Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, Rs 1,830 crore was given last year for production of oil seeds. 

This allocation has been reduced to Rs 1,300 crore this time. Similary, for watershed programmes, the allocation has been reduced to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 2,488 crore, he pointed out. Such a situation would force the State government to discontinue many schemes, he said.