‘BJP-led govt doesn’t believe in principle of cooperative federalism’

KOLKATA: The BJP-led Central government does not believe in the principle of cooperative federalism and has stopped funds for minority scholarships which were being run on a sharing basis between the state and the Centre, said TMC leader Shashi Panja.

Commenting on the Centre’s decision to disburse funds to the state only if funds are utilised properly and on time, she said the funds meant for the states, are not being cleared by the Centre.

Under cooperative federalism, the state must get its due share. The money a state receives from taxes, or devolution of funds, is being taken away by the Centre, she alleged.

“The minority scholarships that were being run on a sharing basis between the Centre and the state were closed down by the BJP-led government. Mamata Banerjee had to then announce that the state alone will take care of it. We also saw that the Centre was initially much concerned about SC/ST scholarships but eventually, they either stopped those or have reduced funding,” she pointed out.

“In the Union Budget, a scheme like MGNREGA, which is a right under a law that guarantees rural jobs, allocation of funds was reduced. Similarly, in various sectors like food, health, education, and women and children welfare, we saw a fund reduction of 2.5 per cent. Where does the Central government’s priority lie? ” she questioned.

She added that never has the state demanded that funds should be released without the utilisation certificate but “what we saw was that funds that are supposed to enter in the first half of the last quarter in a financial year are released at the end of the last quarter. How will we then make the expenditure?”

Alluding to the recent Adani Group controversy, Panja claimed that it is embarrassing that when most people in the country were reeling under the financial crisis during Covid, few individuals witnessed a substantial growth of their wealth.