According to the Union Finance Ministry, all the states except Tamil Nadu have availed benefits of the newly announced scheme for “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”.
- The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister on 12th October 2020 as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.
- The Finance Ministry has approved ₹9,879.61 crore worth capital expenditure proposals of 27 states. Of this, ₹4,939.81 crore has been released as the first installment.
About the SPECIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
- The Scheme is aimed at boosting capital expenditure by the State Governments who are facing a difficult financial environment this year due to the shortfall in tax revenue arising from the COVID 19 pandemic.
- The capital expenditure projects have been approved in diverse sectors like, health, rural development, water supply, irrigation, power, transport, education, urban development.
- Capital Expenditure has a higher multiplier effect, enhancing the future productive capacity of the economy, and results in a higher rate of economic growth.
- The Scheme has three parts:
- Part –I of the scheme covers the north-eastern region. Under this part, ₹200 crore is allocated to 7 north-eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura). In view of a higher population and geographical area, Assam has been allocated ₹450 crore under the scheme.
- Part-II of the Scheme is, for all other States not included in Part-I. An amount of ₹7,500 crore is earmarked for this part.
- Part-III of the Scheme is aimed at pushing various citizen-centric reforms in the States.
(Source: AIR )
