The 13th Finance Commission, which was in Ahmedabad on June 19, met state chief minister Narendra Modi.
The 13th Finance Commission, which was in Ahmedabad on June 19, met state chief minister Narendra Modi. The CM apprised the commission’s head Vijay Kelkar and its 10-member delegation of the states expectations, and recommended that the Central fund allocation should be done solely on the basis of the performance of the states. He told the commission that the objective should be ‘nation building’ and not strong ‘Centre’. The CM suggested that more importance be given to the outcome because there are times when some states get major outlay of the Central fund even though their overall performance in terms of development is poor.
While Congress, the opposition party in the state, put forward its set of demands before the commission, trade bodies like FCCI also made a representation before the Central agency.
Modi also recommended that the states should get incentives for new initiatives taken and innovations brought about. In addition, states should also get incentives for ecology and environment-related initiatives. Gujarat in particular should be given priority in fuel linkage as well as incentives for the reforms it has been carrying out in the energy sector.
The Sixth Pay Commission has put additional burden to the tune of Rs10,000 crore on the state government. The Centre should help the state in shouldering the added burden, said the CM.
Modi, as representative of the state, also suggested reform in some of the terminologies related to Central schemes. He said that the Central government is not the owner of the other states but its trustee. The state government therefore clearly conveyed to the commission that the fund the Union government grants should not be termed as Central help, but redefined as ‘state’s rightful share.
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