Bengaluru, Jul 16: Special grants to the tune of Rs 14,635 crore have been spent for the last eight years for removing regional imbalances in the State as per recommendations of the D?M?Nanjundappa Committee report, but the desired goal of improving the living standards of the people has not been attained.
The continued inequalities among the regions have prompted the State government to continue providing special development plan (SPD) grants to backward taluks, earmarking Rs 12,000 crore for the next four years.
Replying to a discussion in the Legislative Assembly on the implementation of the recommendations of the D?M?Nanjundappa Committee on Regional Imbalances and 371 (J)?status to the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Rs 3,000 crore would be allotted to backward taluks every year for the next four years.
The Nanjundappa Committee had identified 116 taluks as backward and recommended spending Rs 16,000 crore under the SDP for an eight-year period.
Successive governments have allocated Rs 20,000 crore since 2007-08 for the taluks, of which Rs 14,635 crore have been spent, Siddaramaiah pointed out. The eight-year period concluded in 2014-15.
The Human Development Index (HDI)?prepared by the Planning Department indicated 74 taluks had “performed poorly” and 114 had performed “very poorly”, most of them being in the Belagavi and Kalaburagi divisions.
“As the disparities persist, we have decided to continue providing SDP to backward taluks for the next four years,” the chief minister said.
At the same time, the government was awaiting an evaluation report from the Dharwad-based Centre for Multi-disciplinary Research on utilisation of funds during the eight-year period. Siddaramaiah said the State government would prepare an action plan for the next four years based on the report.
Experts from the Bengaluru-based Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) would be consulted before finalising the plan, he said.
As per the HDI, of the 74 poorly performing taluks, 25 were in the Belagavi division, 18 in Kalaburagi, 19 in Bengaluru and 12 in Mysuru. Of the 14 ‘very poorly’ performing taluks, four were in the Belagavi division, nine in Kalaburagi and one in Bengaluru.
The Kalaburagi division still remained backward with 64.4 per cent of literacy against the State’s average of 75.4.
He said that under the provisions of Article 371 (J) of the Constitution, aimed at bringing about all-round development in six districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region – Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Ballari, Bidar, Raichur and Koppal – Rs 2,012 crore had been allocated by the State government during the last three years.
Comments
Add new comment