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New Delhi, October 24 (IANS) Union Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given 273 percent more funds to Karnataka than the UPA government.
“Yet, the state government does not accept it,” the Union minister claimed while addressing a press conference in Delhi on Friday.
The minister rejected the allegation that the Central government was discriminating against Karnataka in releasing grants, calling the claim far from the truth.
He claimed that the 15th Finance Commission had made some recommendations regarding grants to Karnataka.
“However, its final report did not include two of those recommendations. Therefore, no specific grant has been released by the Centre,” he said.
Joshi also claimed that the state government is misleading the people without understanding the fact.
He stressed that the PM Modi-led NDA government has given more than double the grants compared to the previous UPA government.
“The 15th Finance Commission had initially recommended some specific measures for Karnataka. They suggested providing a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore to compensate for the decline in the tax devolution share, which was 4.71 per cent during the 14th Finance Commission period and reduced to 3.64 per cent under the 15th Finance Commission,” he said.
However, this proposal was not included in the final report of the 15th Finance Commission, and hence, the Center did not release any such special grant, the minister explained.
He claimed, “During the 10 years from 2004 to 2014, the UPA government provided Rs 81,795 crore as tax transfer grant to Karnataka. But between 2014 and 2024, the NDA government released a total of Rs 2.93 lakh crore, which is 273 per cent more than under the UPA.”
Joshi said Karnataka has received Rs 51,876 crore in the current financial year alone and a total of Rs 3.45 lakh crore has been given to the state in tax transfer grants in the last 11 years.
“Between 2004 and 2014, the UPA government had allocated Rs 60,000 crore to Karnataka in subsidy-related grants. In contrast, the NDA government from 2014 to 2024 has provided Rs 2.39 lakh crore – an increase of over 290 per cent. For the 2025-26 financial year, the Center has allocated Rs 16,000 crore, taking the total Subsidy-related grants have come up to Rs 2.56 lakh crore over 11 years,” he said Claimed.
He also mentioned that from 2020-21, the Center has provided Rs 14,641 crore to Karnataka as an interest-free loan for 50 years, the entire interest burden of which is borne by the Central government.
The minister claimed that the central government always “releases funds” to the states as per the recommendations of the Finance Commission.
“Under the 12th Finance Commission (2005-2010), the share of tax transfers was 30.5 per cent; under the 13th Finance Commission (2010-2015), it was 32 per cent; under the 14th Finance Commission (2015-2020), it increased to 42 per cent, and under the 15th Finance Commission (2020-2026), it is 41 per cent, ”he claimed.
He also claimed that the 1 per cent cut was due to the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
Joshi further claimed that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA government has consistently provided 10 per cent more funds than all previous periods.
“Yet, the Congress-led Karnataka government’s claim that the Center owes the state Rs 11,495 crore as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission is false and misleading,” the minister claimed.
He accused the state government of hiding the real facts and blaming the Center and said such behavior was unacceptable.
–IANS
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