Special category status (SCS) is truly a long-cherished dream of the people of Andhra Pradesh. The then ruling Congress Party promised to give the SCS during the bifurcation in 2014. However, the BJP government has shown no interest in giving it and the issue had became an election stunt for the political parties since then.
But now, the issue of SCS has once again come to the fore after Union Home Ministry invited Andhra Pradesh to discuss the same.
The Union Home Ministry has recently invited the state to come on the 17th of this month to discuss the special status. A tripartite committee has been set up with the AP and Telangana authorities, headed by the Central Joint Secretary. SS Rawat from AP and Ramakrishna Rao from Telangana will take part in the tripartite committee. 9 key topics will be discussed via video conference on February 17th.
Agendas for the meeting of the Sub-Committee are (a) Division of Andhra Pradesh State Finance Corporation, (b) Settlement of Power Utilities of AP and Telangana, (c) Removal of anomaly in taxation matters, (d) Division of cash balance and bank deposits, (e) Cash Credit by APBCSCL & TSCSCL, (f) Resource gap, (g) Development Grant for 7 backward districts of the State covering Rayalaseema and North Coastal Region, (h) Special Category Status and (i) Tax Incentives.