SRINAGAR: The Government has said that Jammu and Kashmir received Rs 1857.93 crore in grants for rural local bodies under the Fourteenth Finance Commission cycle, even as data for the Union Territory’s allocations and releases under the Fifteenth Finance Commission cycle remains unavailable in the official statement shared in Parliament.
The clarification came in response to a Lok Sabha question on the status of Finance Commission grants to gram panchayats, block panchayats and district panchayats across the country.
According to the figures placed on record for the XIV Finance Commission period from the financial year 2015–2016 to 2019–2020, the Union Territory saw year-on-year variations in allocations and disbursements. In 2015–2016, Jammu and Kashmir was allocated Rs 373.96 crore, out of which Rs 367.72 crore was released. The following year, 2016–2017, saw an allocation of Rs 585.73 crore, but only Rs 474.41 crore was released.
The trend continued into 2017–2018, when the allocation stood at Rs 675.15 crore, while the actual release dropped sharply to Rs 470.97 crore. In 2018–2019, allocations rose to Rs 779.40 crore, though the release remained comparatively low at Rs 544.83 crore. The final year of the XIV FC cycle, 2019–2020, recorded an allocation of Rs 1049.49 crore; however, the statement tabled in the Lok Sabha shows no release for that financial year. Cumulatively, Jammu and Kashmir received Rs 1857.93 crore over the five-year period against a total allocation of Rs 3463.73 crore.
The reply tabled by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj also notes that grants under the Fifteenth Finance Commission are released only after States and rural local bodies fulfil the eligibility conditions specified in the Finance Ministry’s operational guidelines. While the document carries complete State-wise releases for other States and Union Territories, the row corresponding to Jammu and Kashmir in the XV FC table is not included in the annexure made available in the answer. As such, no year-wise or cumulative XV FC release figure for Jammu and Kashmir has been listed in the official reply.
The Government has further said that it does not maintain data on the number of families or individuals who directly benefited from projects funded through these grants.
