Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday indicated that the central government may consider restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.
Sitharaman indicated this while providing information about the distribution of funds by the Center to the states as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
Delivering a lecture on Centre-state relations here, Sitharaman said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had without hesitation accepted the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission in 2014-15 that states should pay 42 per cent of all taxes.
That Finance Commission had said that now you increase it to 42 percent. That is, there will be less money in the hands of the center. Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely accepted the recommendation of the Finance Commission without hesitation and that is why today the states get 42 percent of the funds. Jammu and Kashmir gets 41 percent of the money because it is not a state. Probably its statehood will be restored soon says Sitharaman.
Significantly, on 5 September 2019, the Central Government had removed Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. After which Jammu and Kashmir was given the status of a Union Territory. The government had then given the status of a separate union territory to Ladakh, separating it from Jammu and Kashmir. Home Minister Amit Shah had then said that the state would definitely be given the status of Jammu and Kashmir at the appropriate time. At present, after the statement of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the round of speculation is going on.
Now it remains to be seen what the central government thinks about giving statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
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