MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES
(DR. ASHWANI KUMAR)
(a): The States which have been granted Special Category Status by National
Development Council (NDC) are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and
Uttarakhand.
(b): âSpecial Category Stateâ status has been granted to some States that are
characterized by a number of features necessitating special consideration. These
features include hilly and difficult terrain, low population density and/or sizeable
share of tribal population, strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries,
economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of state finances.
States under this category have a low resource base and are not in a position to
mobilize resources for their developmental needs even though the per capita income
of some of these states is relatively high. Moreover, a number of these states were
constituted out of the former small Union Territories or districts of some other
states, necessarily involving creation of overheads and administrative infrastructure
that was out of proportion to their resource base.
(c): The issue of Special Category Status came up at the time of approval of the Gadgil
Formula at the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) held in April,
1969. Out of the 17 States, 14 States were brought under the Gadgil Formula. The
remaining 3 States namely Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Nagaland were given
special consideration. Subsequently, some other States were granted Special Category
Status when they attained statehood. These were Himachal Pradesh in 1970-71,
Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura in 1971-72, Sikkim in 1975-76, Arunachal Pradesh
and Mizoram in 1986-87 and Uttarakhand in 2000-01.
(d), (e) & (f): There have been requests for grant of Special Category Status from
Governments of Goa, Orissa, Rajasthan and Bihar. In case of Goa, Planning
Commission came to a finding that Goa, being a socially advanced State, did not
qualify the criteria for a Special Category State. In general, it is the considered view
of the Planning Commission that for any State seeking Special Category Status on
account of State specific problems, it would be more appropriate to provide Financial
Assistance/ Additional Central Assistance (ACA) etc. as has been the practice so far,
on a case to case basis. The âstatus quoâ position should be maintained on the list of
Special Category States. The requests of the States for Special Category Status,
therefore, have not been considered feasible. In case of Bihar, however, following
receipt of a fresh memorandum, it has been decided that an Inter-Ministerial Group
would look into the matter.