Stalin seeks 50% share in central taxes
At the 10th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog in New Delhi, chief ministers of various non-BJP-ruled states took the opportunity to raise their issues and concerns about development works and central funds.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin criticised the Centre’s decision to withhold funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, citing Tamil Nadu’s refusal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding tied to the PM SHRI scheme.
“Approximately Rs 2,200 crore of Union funds have been denied to Tamil Nadu for 2024–2025. This adversely impacts the education of children studying in government schools and those studying under the Right to Education Act,” he said.
“It is not acceptable in a cooperative federal India for funds due to a state and already approved to be withheld, delayed or reduced,” he said, while underlining the importance of following the principles of cooperative federalism by the Centre.
He also sought enhancement of the state’s share in central taxes to 50 per cent and underscored the need for a dedicated urban transformation mission.
He also urged upon the Centre to start a project to clean the Cauvery on lines of the ‘Clean Ganga’ initiative and sought similar river cleaning projects for other rivers in the state. He further stated that these projects should have English names for national coherence and regional pride.
Highlighting a set of economic, social and administrative goals to be achieved in the next 22 years, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, in his address, said that his government had prepared a “Telangana Rising-2047” vision document.
Reddy pointed out that the four key elements of the Telangana’ rising vision were welfare of the poor, formulation of comprehensive policies, world-class infrastructure development and transparent good governance goals.
Reddy informed the participants that the Telangana Government had conducted a caste census for the empowerment of backward castes (BCs) by providing them social, economic, educational, employment and political opportunities.
“It is a proud moment for Telangana to have become the first state in the country to provide 42 per cent BC quota in local bodies and sub-categorise the SCs,” he said.
Welcoming the Centre’s decision to conduct a nation-wide caste census, Reddy said that Telangana is ready to share its experiences in conducting the enumeration.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged the Centre to prioritise development work in the region and highlighted the unique challenges faced by the people there.
India