Jayalalithaa flays Centre over Plan allocation to Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has come down heavily on the Centre for not making enough funds available to the state for financing its development projects.

Jayalalithaa, who was in Delhi for finalising the plan outlay for the state for 2012-13, asked the Planning Commission to increase funds through the normal central assistance route (NCA).

NCA is part of the Planning Commission devolution to the State's annual plan and is sanctioned by the finance ministry in the form of 30 per cent grant and 70 per cent loan.

“The fund (NCA) has not increased proportionately and today, these funds constitute a very minor component of the Plan resources of state governments,” the chief minister said in a speech in the Planning Commission on Monday. 

Besides, the eligibility parameters set for schemes like Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana are designed to deny the benefits of these schemes to Tamil Nadu, she said.

“The declining quantum of NCA has been largely due to more resources being transferred to States through centrally-sponsored schemes. I have been repeatedly urging that the proliferation of centrally-sponsored schemes should be checked for several reasons,” Jayalalithaa added.

Another feature of these centrally sponsored schemes that impinge on centre-state relations is that funds are released directly to the implementing agencies, completely bypassing the state governments, thus compromising fiscal discipline, said the chief minister. She further urged the Planning Commission to take “a firm stand against these practices” and increase the NCA levels substantially.

Meanwhile, the Planning Commission said the annual plan allocation for Tamil Nadu for the current financial year was finalised at Rs  28,000 crore, around 19 percent higher than that of for 2011-12 (Rs 23,535 crore). The outlay was fixed in a meeting between Jayalalithaa and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahuluwalia, the plan panel said in a release.

Referring to such discussions with chief ministers, Ahuluwalia said these discussions were important because the Centre also contributed to the states' outlays. 

"These are called annual plan discussions and for the bigger states, most of resources come from the states themselves and the Centre gives some funds and then the total Plan size is approved," he told Press Trust of India.

The purpose of the annual discussion is not simply to give money, but to discuss issues, Ahluwalia said. For the bigger states Centre's contribution is relatively small and for smaller and weaker states, Centre's contribution is large, he added.

The purpose of the annual Plan was to get an understanding of the state, how it views its priorities and what it wants the Centre to do, Ahluwalia said. The discussions also give states an opportunity to make suggestions to the Centre as to how its schemes should be implemented. "These discussion contribute to development process."