Ask Centre not to cut scheme funds: CM to Finance panel

The Union government should not cut funds for Centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS), Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy demanded on Tuesday, continuing the stand his Congress predecessor Siddaramaiah had taken.

Kumaraswamy said this during his meeting with the 15th Finance Commission headed by N K Singh, which is on a visit to the state. The Congress-JD(S) coalition has placed a demand for Rs 1.42 lakh crore by way of devolution of funds.

“The Commission must ensure that once the sharing formula is decided, the Central government should not reduce the funding under the CSS both in terms of size as well as in the sharing pattern between Centre and State,” Kumaraswamy said.

“During the last five years, we’ve seen that while on the one hand the 14th Finance Commission has increased the devolution to states from 32% to 42%, while on the other hand, the Centre reduced its share in CSS. As a result, most of the additional money received under the devolution formula had to be allocated towards state’s share of the CSS schemes,” he said.

The previous Siddaramaiah-led Congress regime complained consistently over the “net loss” to the state due to the Centre shrinking support to CSS.

This led to the state having to spend, from its own pocket, for schemes such as the midday meal, ICDS, the erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, National Rural Drinking Water Project among others.

Kumaraswamy also said Karnataka was shortchanged over drought relief assistance by the Centre when compared with what some other states received.

““Injustice has been done to Karnataka,” he said. “Keeping in view the severe and recurring drought in the state, there is an urgent need for the Commission to substantially increase the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) allocation,” he said.

Karnataka has suggested adoption of five criteria for inter-state transfers: fiscal need (population), fiscal cost (area), fiscal contribution (GSDP), fiscal capacity (per-capita private consumption) and fiscal performance.

The government further reiterated its demand for a 5-year extension beyond 2022 for the state to continue receiving compensation under the GST.