Chidambaram, PTR slam Centre’s ‘effort to erode federalism in India’

Congress veteran P. Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu IT Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, and Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopalan accuse the Union government of eroding state powers.

Congress veteran and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu Information Technology Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopalan on Friday accused the Union government of eroding the powers of the States on a number of key issues.

They were participating at a colloquium, ‘India at Crossroads: Democracy, Growth and Development’, on the topic, ‘The future of co-operative journalism’, at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai.

Mr. Chidambaram said the recent passage of the three new criminal laws in parliament “blatantly encroach upon public order and police’ reserved for the States”. He said the Congress’s manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha election would promise GST 2.0.

Stating that “executive powers are also being centralised”, Mr. Chidambaram likened the actions of Governors, especially in the non-BJP-ruled States, to those of British Viceroys.

“The Finance Commission has been blatantly flouted; the Finance Commission recommended 42% of all Central revenue needs to be devolved to the states. After Jammu and Kashmir was dismembered into two Union Territories, the 42% became 41%. But the effective devolution to the States in the last few years has been only 33%-34%, which means nearly 8% of the funds that should go to the States are not being transferred on one pretext or the other. Over and above this pretext is the rampant use of cesses and surcharges, because cesses and surcharges are not shareable with the States. NITI Ayog Chief Executive Officer B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said in an interview to Al Jazeera that when he joined as secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, he revealed that the Prime Minister called the Finance Commission, and told them that ‘you must find ways to cut the shareable revenue’ to the State. This is a blatant interference with the independence and autonomy of the Finance Commission,” Mr Chidambaram said.

He added, “The New Education Policy requires every State to open certain number of new schools. Kerala has told them that ‘we are closing schools because we don’t need too many schools in rural areas. There is urbanisation, there is expansion of existing schools in every area and that we don’t need to open so many schools in rural areas’,” he said, adding, “The State governments used to send recommendations to the High Court and the State governments will be consulted before an appointment is made to the High Court. Today, the State governments are not allowed to recommend names; even if they do, they are cast aside.”