Demonetisation, GST hurt state more than floods: Seetharam

Bengaluru: Minister for Statistics, Science and Technology, M R Seetharam contended on Monday that demonetisation and introduction of the Goods and Services Tax by the Centre had hurt the state more than the recurring drought and floods of the last few years.

Speaking to reporters here, he  said while the Union government was talking about the long time benefits of demonetisation and GST, the state was suffering in terms of revenue mobilisation, which was key to its development.

Giving an instance, Mr Seetharam said when the state government wanted to give cooperative loan waivers to farmers, it had to ask the MML to deposit Rs 1,400 crore with the Apex Bank.

“This is not a big sum and  the government can make budgetary provision for it and give it  back to MML. But the state’s revenues have drastically dwindled,” he regretted.

Responding to a question, the Minister said  he was personally against encouraging robotics in India, as it would affect the job market.

“We are flooded with manpower and are producing a lot of young graduates, who are not being absorbed in the job market. If we promote robotics in a big way, the requirement for manpower will shrink further,” he pointed out.

Mr Seetharam said  his department was still assessing the unspent money released under the Legislators' Local Area Development Fund,  and was considering converting it into a Natural Disaster Fund.

“We are still getting data about the unspent money. The department will  propose handing it over funds to the DCs for use as emergency funds in times of natural disasters like floods and earthquakes,” he said.