Karnataka: A look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s central funds reflects a state of neglect of infrastructure, railways, healthcare, education, Dalits, Adivasis and farmers.

The state’s resources were plundered due to the Rs 35,000-crore iron ore mining scam under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government that was unearthed in 2013. During the tenure of current Siddaramaiah-led, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has not assisted the State much in terms of finance.

1. “In the 15th Finance Commission 2017, Rs 22,497 crores less is being awarded to Karnataka. BJP’s on-ground performance has been questioned and hence they have brought out the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the commission to weaken the funding given to non-BJP-ruled states“, said Karnataka Agriculture Minister and State representative at GST Council, Krishna Byre Gowda told Business Line.

2. New infrastructure projects have touched a 13-year-low, according to Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy 2017 data. Forty-six of Karnataka’s infra project costs originally at Rs 78,727 crore has increased to Rs 96,951 crore. Twenty-two of these have shown an increase of 112 per cent in cost. Funds from Centre are incessantly delayed.

3. In 2016-17 when Karnataka’s farmers, 160 talukas of 30 districts faced extreme drought during the rabi season, BJP rejected funds asked by the state government. Karnataka asked for Rs 3,310.83 crore as necessary, but the BJP rejected this plea and sanctioned only Rs 795.5 crore.

(a) Under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, State asked for Rs 264.72 but was provided Rs 178.99 crore by Centre.

(b) Under National Food Security Mission, State desired Rs 146.07 crore, but was provided Rs 96.5 crore by Centre.

4. Funds which Karnataka used to avail for Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) Scheme were reduced from Rs 46.1 crore to Rs 6 crore by the BJP government.

5. Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government spent more than Rs 1 lakh crore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) on India’s urban infrastructure for cities. Congress spent Rs 6,570 crore for Karnataka’s urban infrastructure projects; whereas the BJP provided Rs 598 crore under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in the past 3 years.

6. Modi government announced new AIIMS-like institutions in 2014-15 (4 AIIMS were proposed), in 2015-16 (6 AIIMS proposed) and 2017-18 (2 more AIIMS proposed) but not one AIIMS was proposed for Karnataka.

(a) Karnataka under the National Health Mission got Rs Rs 20,121.78 crore from Congress-UPA in 2013-14, while centre reduced this amount by Rs 2,808.69 crore in 2015-16 and further Rs 1,945.88 crore in 2016-17.

(b) Karnataka government had requested to sanction 200 Pradhan Mantri Jan Aashudhi Centres in the State, but Modi government sanctioned only 17.

7. The Karnataka government did not receive a penny for the pre-matric scholarship scheme for Dalits and Adivasis in 2015-16 and 2016-17. In 2017-18, an amount of Rs 12.64 crore was sanctioned.

8. Modi government’s Tourism Ministry did not include a single circuit from Karnataka in the ‘Swadesh Darshan Yojana’, even though Karnataka sent multiple representations.

9. Railway projects were ignored: 17 New Line Projects for Railways in Karnataka were not given preference for funds. Following are some examples:

(1) Gadag -Yalvigi (58 km): The cost of the project is Rs 640 crore, but in the past four years, only Rs 1 crore has been provided by the Modi government and work has not begun.

(2) Hubli -Ankola (167 km): The cost of this project is Rs 2,315 crore, but centre only sanctioned Rs 1 crore in 2014-15, Rs 12 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 18 crore in 2017-18.

(3) Chikballapur -Gowribidanur (44 km): The cost of this project is Rs 368 crore, but only Rs 0.1 crore was sanctioned in 2014-15, Rs 0.0001 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 0.11 crore in 2017-18.

(4) Chikballapur-Puttaparty-Shri Satya Sai Nilayam (103 km): The cost of this project is Rs 692 crore, Rs 0.6 crore was sanctioned in 2014-15, Rs 0.0001 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 0.11 crore in 2017-18.

(5) Srinivasapura-Madanapali (75 km): The cost of this project is Rs 692 crore, but Modi government only sanctioned Rs 0.6 crore in 2014-15, Rs 0.0001 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 0.11 crore in 2017-18.