N-E states, J-K get maximum Central funds

According to the survey, Arunachal Pradesh tops the list with per capita Central assistance in 1998-99 amounting to Rs 6,033. This means that in the last financial year, New Delhi sent the state an amount equivalent to Rs 6,033 for every resident.

Sikkim was next with Rs 4,463, followed by Mizoram with Rs 3841 and Jammu and Kashmir with Rs 2,724 for the same period. These figures do not include the security-related expenditure borne by the Centre.

Compare these with the amounts other states received in the same year. Madhya Pradesh got a meagre Rs 486, West Bengal Rs 599, Andhra Pradesh Rs 622 and backward UP Rs 651.

Given the fact that the North-East as well as J&K are classified as special category states, the high levels of Central assistance are perhaps natural. For instance, Himachal Pradesh, which also falls in this category, has Rs 2,420 against its name. Curiously, Assam is excluded from the list and therefore received a paltry Rs 621 per capita in 1998-99.

“If the Centre were to send an annual money order to every household (in the North-East), the people there would make much better use of it,” says Planning Minister Arun Shourie. Elaborating in specific terms, he points out, “For instance, a money order for every household in Arunachal Pradesh would amount to Rs 70,000 a year or Rs 3.5 lakh in a Five-Year Plan. Or take Kashmir. Every person in the state receives 14 times more than a resident of Bihar, 11 times more than someone in Tamil Nadu and six times more compared to Assam.”

Shourie reveals that MPs from the North-East were startled by these revelations in a presentation made by the Planning Commission at a special meeting organised earlier this year to discuss the vexed question of funds. Seeing their reaction, it was decided to make such meetings a regular affair and a second one was held just last week in Guwahati. “People in the North-East just don’t realise how much money is going to them from the Centre,” Shourie stressed.

The Planning Commission has come up with other innovative ideas to bridge this communication gap. For instance, wherever a project is being executed with Central funds, notices will be pasted on the walls of primary schools, etc in that area giving all the relevant details. “We hope that if people are aware where the money is going, it will help to check the seepage of funds,” Shourie explained.

But the problem is far too complex to be solved with the mere introduction of transparency. Clearly, the Government will have to review the way it has handled the difficulties faced by these far-flung areas and their hostile terrains.

As a start, the Centre has decided that all special packages for the North-East as well as Kashmir will be project-based and not money-driven as has been the convention. Consequently, the Central grant announced by Prime Minister Vajpayee in Shillong in January this year, amounting to Rs 10,271.68 crore, will go in the form of 28 projects such as power plants, roads and bridges.

Predictably, the state governments were not happy and the PM’s aides were peeved by the fact that the huge grant found no mention in the local papers.