New Delhi: Finance minister of six states including Delhi and Pondicherry on Thursday meet President Ramnath Kovind and submitted a memorandum demanding 13 amendments to the Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission.
A delegation comprising Finance Ministers of Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry called on #PresidentKovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan pic.twitter.com/3mRflxRNqi
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) May 17, 2018
The memorandum submitted by Finance Ministers of Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry stated: “The terms of reference violate the federal principle as enshrined in the Constitution, erode the autonomy of all States and bring significant financial hardship to all States.”
One of the major amendments demanded by the ministers is the use of 1971 population date instead of 2011 population data used by the Finance Commission for the devolution of funds which was used by all the previous Finance Commissions.
T.M. Thomas Isaac, Manish Sisodia, Amit Mitra, Manpreet Singh Badal, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and V. Narayanswamy demanded that they have been arguing that it is for the popularly elected governments to decide what is ‘populist’ and what isn’t.
Other amendments included the deletion of the reference to Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). The 15th Finance Commission has said that the States will be assessed on progress made by them in promoting DBT.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
