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Among the five States going to the polls, Uttar Pradesh has the highest fiscal deficit of Rs 20,513 crore, followed by Punjab with Rs 6,690 crore.
While Manipur registered the lowest fiscal deficit, it also recorded the highest – three-fold – rise from Rs 217 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 733 crore in 2009-10. The North-Eastern State is also the most dependent, almost 90 per cent, on Central funding.
According to an analysis of the budgets of the five poll-bound States – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur – by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), an umbrella of 1,200 NGOs, all the five States are running on deficit.
Among the five, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab are Opposition-ruled, while Goa and Manipur are backed by the ruling coalition at the Centre.
“A large portion of the revenue earned by these States is going towards salaries, pensions, interest payments and subsidies. This makes all of them dependent on the Centre for their activities,” said Mr Trilochan Shastry of ADR, which is working on increasing voter awareness in the five States.
He said the total amount that UP got from Central sources during 1005-10 stood at Rs 1,83,875 crore, followed by Rs 21,984 crore for Uttarakhand, Rs 19,568 crore for Punjab, Rs 14,880 crore for Punjab and Rs 2,459 crore for Goa. Uttarakhand and Manipur are entitled to higher grants from the Centre owing to special category status.
In terms of committed expenditure during 2005-10, Punjab spent 79 per cent of its revenues on salaries, subsidies etc, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 59 per cent, Uttarakhand at 55 per cent, Goa at 46 per cent and Manipur at 45 per cent.
On the subsidy front, the highest in Uttar Pradesh went to energy at 38 per cent, rural development 28 per cent, agriculture 20 per cent and irrigation and flood control 4 per cent in 2009-10.
Pension payments too shot by 177 per cent in the State, from Rs 3,991 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 11,007 crore in 2009-10.
Among the five States, four managed to show a revenue surplus in the period 2005-1010, except Punjab which ran an aggregate revenue deficit of Rs 13,580 crore, according to the analysis.
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