Centre’s grant flow to J&K’s rural bodies nosedives after 2016

Srinagar, Dec 11: Jammu and Kashmir saw a steady decline in the proportion of Finance Commission grants released to its Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) after 2015–16, with year-wise figures showing a widening gap between allocations and actual fund flow, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Finance.

Under the 14th Finance Commission award period (2015–16 to 2019–20), the Union Government allocated Rs 3,463.73 crore to J&K, but released only Rs 1,857.93 crore — just 54% of the total entitlement.

The year-wise trend shows the decline clearly. In 2015–16, J&K received nearly its full allocation, with Rs 367.72 crore released against Rs 373.96 crore allocated — about 98% of the entitlement.

In 2016–17, Jammu & Kashmir received Rs 474.41 crore against an allocation of Rs 585.73 crore — a shortfall of Rs 111.32 crore, or roughly 19%.

The downward trend continued in 2017–18, when only around 69% of the Rs 675.15 crore allocation was released.

In 2018–19, the Centre released 70% of the Rs 779.40 crore allocated — slightly better than the previous year but still well below full entitlement.

The sharpest gap appears in 2019–20, the final year of the award period, when no grant was released at all against an allocation of Rs 1,049.49 crore.

The allocations are subject to the submission of Grant Transfer Certificates (GTCs) and adherence to the eligibility conditions specified in the Finance Ministry’s guidelines dated 14 July 2021. The ministry did not specify the reasons for declining release percentages or the complete non-release in 2019–20.

The Centre also released year-wise 15th Finance Commission grant data for States but the Union Territories, including J&K, do not appear in the annexure, leaving its 2020–21 to 2025–26 figures unavailable in the dataset.