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As the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has severely cut the short-term agricultural credit limit to Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on November 29, 2024, and sought his direction to the Union Finance Ministry to restore the credit limit to the State by NABARD in the current fiscal year (2024-25). The Chief Minister placed six demands before Mr. Modi and sought additional funding to Karnataka for addressing growing needs of the infrastructure in Bengaluru and other cities.
In a memorandum to Mr. Modi, Mr. Siddaramaiah said NABARD has created serious alarm among the farmers of the State by reducing its lending by 58% in the year 2024-25.
NABARD has reduced its lending from ₹5,600 crore during 2023-24 to ₹2,340 crore for the current year 2024-25. The reduced lending “will seriously impact the cost of finance for farmers, unless the State steps in to provide additional interest subvention which will severely impact our finance,” the Chief Minister said. Earlier, Mr.
Siddaramaiah met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the same issue and apprised her of the State’s concerns. “I request you to look into this and direct the Finance Ministry to rectify this situation so that farmers in Karnataka continue to receive soft agricultural loans,” the Chief Minister said in the petition to the Prime Minister. Funds for Upper Bhadra Mr.
Siddaramaiah requested Mr. Modi to provide ₹5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project which was promised by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget of 2023-24. Noting a Cabinet note that has been moved to provide the assistance under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, the chief minister said, “I would request you to give approval to this proposal at your earliest convenience, as the Upper Bhadra project provides irrigation to the parched farm-lands of central Karnataka”.
The Chief Minister appealed to Mr. Modi to provide pending project clearances by the Jal Shakti Ministry and the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change for two projects — the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir on Cauvery river and the Kalasa Banduri project on Mahadayi river. The Mekedatu project needs approval from the Jal Shakti Ministry and environmental clearance.
The Kalasa Banduri project is at an advanced stage for wildlife clearance. Urban infrastructure Mr. Siddaramaiah flagged the growing infrastructural needs of Bengaluru and requested the Prime Minister to direct the Ministry of Urban Development, the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Road Transport to provide funds to the Karnataka government to invest in urban transport and public transport for the city.
“Karnataka is fast urbanising and we have 13 city corporations in Tier-2 cities that need massive investment,” the CM said, requesting the Ministry of Urban Development to provide ₹10,000 crore for these cities under AMRUT or any other schemes. Karnataka has set aside ₹2,000 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi Nagar Vikas Yojana for the next three years. “However, this is woefully inadequate to meet the infrastructure needs of these cities,” he said and demanded the funding from the Centre.
Raw deal in 15th FC The Chief Minister also raised the issue of Karnataka receiving a raw deal at the hands of the 15th Finance Commission. He said “the Ministry of Finance could have set right anomalies in the recommendations that lowered our share in the divisible pool of taxes by 1%” and demanded ₹5,495 crore to compensate for the reduction in the State’s share as per the recommendations made by the 15 th Finance Commission and special grant of ₹6,000 crore for Peripheral Ring Road and for rejuvenation of water bodies. “Since we are still in the period of the 15th Finance Commission, I would again request you to direct the Ministry of Finance to provide additional grants,” the CM said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Ministry of Finance must take note of the States contributing a larger share to the central taxes and such States should not be punished by severe cut in share of those central taxes in the 16 th Finance Commission. Published - November 29, 2024 01:19 pm IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Karnataka / Bangalore / Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
