Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / Sep 23, 2021
The kitty of central funding to Uttar Pradesh jumped 45 percent to more than Rs 2 trillion under the current Yogi Adityanath dispensation (2017-present) compared to the previous Akhilesh Yadav regime (2012-17).
Compared to Rs 1.37 trillion received by UP during 2012-17, the state was remitted central funds for development purposes to the tune of Rs 2 trillion from 2017-18 financial year to August 2021.
Since seven months still remain to be accounted for in 2021-22, the total central funding to UP during the current financial year will be higher, considering it is an election year with the crucial assembly polls slated in the early months of 2022.
“After the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre, the central funding to UP saw a major hike. However, the infusion of central funds to the state surged after Yogi Adityanath became the state chief minister in 2017,” a UP government spokesperson said.
He claimed UP had received significantly lower central funding when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was at the helm.
“The real impact of the ‘double engine’ government can be substantiated by the quantum of central assistance over the last four and a half years, which has led to the optimum implementation of the developmental schemes in UP,” he underlined.
The Centre had released about Rs 17,338 crore and Rs 22,405 crore to UP in 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively. The infusion leapfrogged to Rs 32,691 crore in 2014-15, when Modi came to power.
The transfer of funds in the subsequent years stood at Rs 31,861 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 32,537 in 2016-17. “However, the development process gained momentum when the ‘double engine’ government led by Yogi Adityanath took over the reins of UP,” he noted.
As such, the Centre devolved funds to the tune of Rs 40,648 crore in 2017-18, Rs 42,988 crore in 2018-19, Rs 44,044 crore in 2019-20, Rs 57,488 crore in 2020-21 and over Rs 16,415 crore in 2021-22 (till Aug 31).
UP has been adjusted to be top ranked in a slew of central government schemes viz. PM Awas Yojana, PM Employment Generation Programme, Ujjwala Scheme, Saubhagya Scheme, construction of toilets, Smart Cities etc.
