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| Budget proposals may further delay Govt formation in J&K | | | If the Union Government in general and
the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, in
particular do not revise some of the aid giving schemes to Jammu and Kashmir it may not be possible for the PDP Chief, Mehbooba Mufti, to take oath as Chief Minister and lead the PDP-BJP coalition Government for a period of five years. In fact if Mehbooba had delayed taking over as Chief Minister she was simply waiting for the announcement of fulsome economic and financial package for Jammu and Kashmir in the union budget proposals. This economic package has not been made part of the budget proposals which seem to have disappointed Mehbooba .This way the tussle between the BJP and the PDP seems to have entered into a new phase though both are keen to form the Government in order to avoid facing the electorate. Both the senior BJP and the PDP leaders know that if there is further delay in the Government formation, the Governor may ultimately dissolve the Assembly and fresh elections may be held after five to six months. And these leaders know it fully well that if the fresh elections are held the BJP may be fully mauled by the Congress in the region of Jammu and the PDP's vote share may be taken away by the National Conference in the Kashmir valley.
The Union Budget proposals in the parliament on Monday have left Mehbooba Mufti somewhat discouraged and disappointed because for Jammu and Kashmir it has nothing to offer to the state, making it tough for the PDP to re-stitch an alliance with the BJP and form a government. It has brought huge disappointment for the PDP, which had sought new confidence-building measures (CBMs), including economic concessions, from the Centre before realigning with the saffron party. It was being perceived that after the unsuccessful political exercise, announcements of some state-specific economic reforms in the Budget by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre could rekindle efforts to form a government following the death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7.For PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who has not refused to share power with the BJP so far, the absence of any state-specific economic element in the Union Finance Minister's Budget speech may prove to be a major roadblock in making up her mind to form an government in the state
Though the focus of the government in the budget was to improve the growth prospects of the economy in the near term while trying to adhere to the fiscal discipline in the medium term. Since this was the first big budget for the NDA government, the budget was also a vision document for the government and the way forward for the next 5 years. The government, while increasing the allocation to states by ~10%, still managed to project the plan expenditure levels flat on yearly basis, clearly shows the determination of the government on maintaining the capital spending in the economy by the center to improve the growth momentum. The devolution to the States would be of the order of Rs 5.24 lakh crore in 2015-16 as against the devolution of Rs 3.38 lakh crore as per revised estimates of 2014-15. The budget clearly laid out its priorities in terms of pushing for higher spending on infrastructure and also laid emphasis on improving the social sector. In fact the budget proposals have given some economic package which people treat as pittance. The union budget provides for special Industrial Initiative Rs. 70 crore from Rs. 45 crore. No doubt those connected with the sector of industry feel that Rs.70 crores were too insufficient to enable the state to have largescale investment in the industry. Jaitley has earmarked Rs.40 crores for development of other crafts. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is a home for various crafts,particularly those connected with handicrafts, handlooms, paper machine and the amount of Rs.40 crores is treated as a pittance. The BJP led NDA Government should have known that inputs used for development of Pashmina wool are a costly exercise and as such Rs.15 crores for Pashmina wool development is too meager to allow those connected with the trade to revolutionize its production which could have helped the state and the country to earn foreign exchange.The allocation for relief and rehabilitation for Kashmiri Pandits has not found any mention in the budget when last year Rs.580 crores had been allocated. This too could make the job of Mehbooba tough for forging a coalition Government with the BJP. |
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