Jaipur. Governments are running free schemes in many states of the country but these pose a big threat to the state budget. The 16th Finance Commission has said that it will consider this issue. Arvind Panagariya, Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, said that the Finance Commission will consider the free schemes being run by the states and the Centre in its report. He said that the individual benefits being given by various states and perhaps the Centre… have a very deep impact on the financial situation, so the Finance Commission also has to ensure that macroeconomic and financial stability is maintained in the country. The Finance Commission will definitely consider this.
Arvind Panagariya said in a press conference, “Schemes providing personal benefits, which are given by the state and perhaps even the center, have a deep impact on finance. Keeping this in mind, the commission also has to see that macroeconomic and financial stability is maintained in the country. This comes under our jurisdiction.”
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Continuing to assess financial position
He further said, “So the Finance Commission will definitely consider this… Will it be able to say anything? Will it be able to say something or not and what will it say, it will take time. It will take six-seven months to reach that situation.” After the formation of the 16th Finance Commission in the country, the Commission is assessing the financial condition of the states. The Commission will give its recommendations after discussions with the states and the central government. Earlier, the members of the Commission talked to Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, Premchand Bairwa and other state government officials. After the meeting, Panagariya said, “The state government has asked the Center to increase the current 41 percent share in taxes to 50 percent.”
He said that the government has also demanded a change in the standards of sharing among the states in view of the state’s geographical location, area and special circumstances. The commission chairman said that while giving a presentation in the meeting, it was told that Rajasthan is the largest state in the country in terms of area and two-thirds of the state is desert. 21 percent of the country’s barren land is in Rajasthan and there is a huge shortage of water here and the state is also ‘unique’ because it has an international border of about 1,071 kilometers.
The Rajasthan government said that due to low population density in the state, more money has to be spent on infrastructure to provide basic amenities to the people. 75 percent of the population of Rajasthan lives in villages. At the same time, the SC-ST population here is also 31 percent of the total population and water is a big problem in the state.
On the demand for special status for Rajasthan, Panagariya said, “Nothing can be said about this right now. We have visited four states right now. We have to visit 24 more states. Only after that something can be said about this.”
Tags: Business news, Modi government, PM housing scheme
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 2, 2024, 10:30 IST