Modi said the critics seem to have missed that the Union government has suggested to the Finance Commission to consider incentivising states who worked on population control.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday rejected the allegations of southern states, including Tamil Nadu, that the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission were biased against "certain states, or a particular region". He said that the Centre has suggested to the Commission to consider incentivising states that took population control measures.
"It is an issue that has been raised for certain vested interests over the last few days. Baseless allegations are being made about the ToR of the 15th Finance Commission being biased against certain states or a particular region," he said after the inauguration of diamond jubilee building of the Cancer Institute in Chennai.
Modi said the critics seem to have missed that the Union government has suggested to the Finance Commission to consider incentivising states who worked on population control. "By this yardstick, a state like Tamil Nadu, which has devoted a lot of effort, energy and resources towards population control would certainly benefit," he said.
The PM's clarification comes in the wake of the meeting of the Finance Ministers of the southern states hosted by Kerala on April 10 on the issue of TOR of the commission, and was attended by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. The states opposed the ToR recommendation to use the 2011 census to calculate population for allocation of Union tax revenue in place of 1971 census, which was used by previous Finance Commissions. They said that usage of 2011 census would affect devolution of funds to the states which have better population control and wanted reframing of the TOR.
Modi said the Union government was committed to cooperative federalism. "Our Mantra is 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas'. Let us all work together to build new India, which would make our freedom fighters proud," he said.
The allegation
Southern states, including Tamil Nadu, had alleged that the Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission were biased against “certain states, or a particular region”
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