CM Pinarayi Vijayan calls for joint effort to protect state’s interest

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the 15th finance commission set to visit Kerala from May 28 to 30 to hold discussions with political parties and the state government on its terms of reference, an all-party meeting chaired by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Friday stressed the need for a joint effort to resist the commission’s terms of reference which would be detrimental to the state’s interests.
The commission’s recommendations has raised serious concerns, and if implemented will incur huge loss to the state, said the chief minister. “We should demand the commission to raise the states’ share of tax revenue from 42% to 50%. Kerala’s share of tax revenue is currently 2.5%, which was 3.5% during the tenure of 10th finance commission,” he said.

Urging the political parties to submit a joint memorandum to the commission requesting not to reduce the tax revenue share from the existing one, the CM said the government would present a formula before the commission that would guard against any such dip in revenue share.

Besides, the move to replace 1971 census data with 2011 data for devolution of funds will be detrimental to Kerala and other southern states, which have stabilized fertility rate to bring down population growth significantly, the meeting noted. “The state would place before the commission this financial achievement (cut on population growth) as a clause for not reducing the share of tax proceeds,” the CM said.

Finance minister T M Thomas Isaac informed the meeting that the state would incur a loss of Rs 45,000 crore if the 2011 census data is considered for devolution of funds.

The commission will hold talks with political parties in the state capital on May 28, and with the state government and representatives of LSGD institutions separately on May 29.