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Punjab: Warring hits out at AAP govt over state’s dismal fiscal health
The NITI Aayog’s latest Fiscal Health Index (FHI) of 18 major states has exposed the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) fake claims of progress in Punjab as the state has been placed at the bottom of the index, says Amarinder Raja Warring
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Friday said that the NITI Aayog’s latest Fiscal Health Index (FHI) of 18 major states has exposed the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) fake claims of progress in Punjab as the state has been placed at the bottom of the index.
Warring said that Punjab has been ranked at the bottom of 18 major states in the country on the FHI. He said the NITI Aayog report is a scathing indictment of the AAP’s colossal failure, which has pushed the state to virtual bankruptcy. Niti Aayog released the second edition of the FHI for financial year 2023-24 in New Delhi on Wednesday, suggesting that states with widening revenue deficits should prioritise aligning revenue expenditure with sustainable revenue growth.
Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala are at the bottom of the rankings. Punjab scored 12.4 out of 100, performing poorly on all parameters, including quality of expenditure, fiscal prudence, debt index, revenue mobilisation, and debt sustainability. Neighbouring Haryana was placed at number 11 with a score of 34.5. Odisha, Goa and Jharkhand were listed as India’s top three fiscally sound states.
The Punjab Congress chief reiterated his demand for a white paper on the state of Punjab’s fiscal health so that people of the state know how the AAP has destroyed it economically, socially and in terms of law and order. He said that the Congress warned the government against its “wanton extravagance” at the cost of the state’s fiscal health and the consequences are before everyone. The FHI, he noted, evaluated the states on five parameters, which include revenue mobilisation, expenditure quality, fiscal prudence, debt levels and debt sustainability.
