Contrary to the talk that YSR Congress party president and newly-elected Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has conveniently pushed the special category status demand to the backburner, he raised the issue once again with a strong voice at the Niti Aayog governing council meeting held in New Delhi on Saturday.
Presenting his stand at the meeting, Jagan reminded that during the bifurcation of the state, the Parliament had assured the people of Andhra Pradesh that it would be granted Special Category Status for a five-year period and the residuary state would be adequately compensated through a number of development interventions, investments, and direct financial assistance to mitigate the economic hardships.
“I wish to emphasize that grant of Special Category Status is an essential imperative to compensate the State for the economic and financial deprivation and help launch it on the path of development trajectory,” he said.
Jagan told the meeting that the Special Category Status would mean higher grants-in-aid to the State Government.
The per capita grants to the Special Category States is Rs 5,573, whereas Andhra Pradesh received only Rs 3,428.
The states which have special status alone enjoy special industrial incentives such as Income Tax exemption, other concessions and exemptions pertaining to GST, etc.
“Such special incentives are vital for our agrarian state, as it would enable rapid industrialisation leading to improved employment opportunities for the youth and overall development of the State.
“We need super speciality hospitals, five-star hotels, manufacturing industries, high-value service industries such as IT, premier institutions of higher education and research to transform the economic architecture of our State, which is possible only with Special Category Status,” he said.
