Live
- SC gives no interim relief to ex-Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren
- Sparks fly as BJP, Congress, SP big guns roar in Amethi
- Heavy Rains Expected Hyderabad Today, People Advised to be vigilant
- Olympic selection trials: Sift, Aishwary in lead as top two in 3P events identified
- Trial of Syrian government militia's head begins in Germany's Hamburg
- Fionn Hand added to Ireland men's squad for Netherlands T20I tri-series
- Biggest war sequence of Suriya Sivakumar-starrer 'Kanguva' features 10,000-plus people
- US Air Force blames power loss, weather for F-16 crash in South Korea in May 2023
- India needs a national security filter for doing business with some nations: EAM Jaishankar
- Swati Maliwal's 'after-assault' video surfaces, being told to move out
30 of 31 districts most backward !
The tag of being a surplus State notwithstanding, the fact of the matter is that 30 of the 31 districts in Telangana State are ‘most backward’ in economic parlance!
Hyderabad: It appears something straight out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
The tag of being a surplus State notwithstanding, the fact of the matter is that 30 of the 31 districts in Telangana State are ‘most backward’ in economic parlance!
The lone exception is Hyderabad, which is quite understandable.
Before the reorganisation of districts, nine out of 10 districts were declared ‘backward’.
These districts were being provided with Rs 50 crore each against a Rs 450 crore development fund every year under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BGRF) scheme.
The BGRF scheme has been extended to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in accordance with the AP Reorganisation Act.
The Centre agreed to accord backward district status to 30 districts. Of them, 21 districts were carved out of nine districts while Hyderabad district remained the same.
Top officials of the State Planning department told The Hans India that the State had convinced the Centre with statistical evidences on the backwardness of the new districts.
They strongly argued for the backward status as they were created from backward districts. All the technical parameters, including per capita income, industrial growth and living standards, set by the Union Government for the recognition of backward districts were also met by the new districts, the State government explained.
However, the Centre clarified that it would not increase the fund amount in proportionate to the number of districts.
Telangana State was asked to utilise the Rs 450 crore for development works. The government would have to spend the money depending on the requirements in each district, an official said that the government had already clarified on the utilisation of funds released in 2015-16.
The funds meant for 2016-17 would be utilised for the development of rural roads by Panchayat Raj and Rural Development in the state.
He said that the government had also made a presentation before NITI Ayog Adviser Ashok Kumar Jain during his visit to the State, while explaining about the measures being taken by the government for sector-wise development of the backward districts.
The official had presumably given an assurance for early release of funds this year. The issue of increase of the quantum of funds to each district was also discussed with the Centre which made it clear that the State‘s plea would not be taken into consideration unless it took a policy decision.
