THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State finance minister
T M Thomas Isaac on Friday rubbished PM Narendra Modi’s statement that the centre will urge the 15th
finance commission to consider incentivising the states that have brought down population growth. Isaac said Modi was misleading the states by offering them ‘an insignificant share of incentives in place of the deserving share of tax proceeds’.
However, Isaac said he was happy to learn that the PM has accepted the southern states’ criticism on the 15th Finance Commission’s terms of reference on horizontal devolution (between states) based on the 2011 census data instead of the 1971 data. “We (the southern states and other affected states) will scale up the pressure and are planning a national debate in Delhi,” he told reporters here.
It’s good that the Centre has started firefighting measure, which was clear in Modi’s statement made in Chennai, Isaac said. But Modi cannot deceive the states by flashing incentives, which comprise only about 3-4% of the total devolution, while the major share of net proceeds from taxes will still be distributed based on the 2011 census data, Isaac pointed out.
The conclave of
finance ministers from four states held here recently had decided to organize the next round of meeting with participation of more states in Andhra Pradesh, to finalise a draft memorandum to be submitted to the President. “The meeting will be held this month itself either in Vijayawada or in Visakhapatnam, and we have invited states like Delhi, West Bengal, Punjab and Orissa also to take part,” Isaac said.
“We have also decided to organize a public debate on the finance commission’s terms of reference in New Delhi with the support of a few research institutions and will invite the commission’s chairman and members as well. The Centre has not been not allowing the FC to function independently. It is a matter of states’ survival. Let there be a debate at the national level,” he added.
