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<a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/what-should-be-demands-southern-finance-ministers-meeting-draft-charter-79156"><h1>What should be the demands from the southern Finance Ministers’ meeting? A draft charter</h1></a>
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States must reiterate to the Centre where its homework assignment stops. “Thus far and no further.” </span>
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<a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/author-articles/Tara-Krishnaswamy">
Tara Krishnaswamy </a>
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Friday, April 06, 2018 - 19:28 </span></li>
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<p>The Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission
have evoked strong protests from leaders of the southern states. They
realise that they are subject to dipping central resource allocations
due to their relative economic and social well being.</p>
<p>Southern states with their better per capita incomes, lower fertility
rates, increased education levels and health outcomes, are complaining
due to penalties in fiscal distribution, but that is not their only
complaint. Delhi high handedness interferes with their political
empowerment and social equity.</p>
<p>Karnataka, a state that is among the top tax contributors to the
union, has been left waiting on the demand for a state flag – as if
being of Karnataka and of India is an either-or existence! Tamil Nadu,
with its unparalleled <a href="http://aishe.nic.in/aishe/reports">44% female enrolment in colleges</a>,
is under siege for opposing NEET as the criteria for state-funded
medical colleges that produce doctors to serve in Sivagangai and
Ariyalur! Andhra Pradesh is reeling from central betrayal on Special
Category Status, while the most socially developed Kerala, is being
dictated its menu like a juvenile.</p>
<p>Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has called for a meeting of his peers from the southern states on April 10.</p>
<p>So when the leaders of the south meet as a collective, what should they demand?</p>
<p>Here is a charter of demands which could be the foundation for the
Southern Collective in their arbitrations with the Centre. These demands
must be framed not from a position of superiority or victimhood. They
must be framed from the recognition that a massive development effort is
still pending in the south, even as it finds itself ahead of the
average Indian curve.</p>
<p>The objective of this charter then, is to delineate the functions of
the collective, not exhaustively but as a draft that evolves. All of the
agenda cannot be accomplished on day one, nor is it meant to be.
However, it does put the wheels in motion in a federal direction, and
sets up a framework to leapfrog development in the face of asymmetry.</p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(128,0,0)"><strong>Charter for the Southern Collective (Draft)</strong></span></p>
<p><em><strong>Credo: Federalism at the Centre, autonomy for the states.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>1. Political Representation</strong></p>
<p>The Rajya Sabha must be treated as a genuine Council of States. A
minimum number of seats from each state must be guaranteed for in-state
representatives and untied to population, and then it can have a
multiplier for population. Today, it is a dole for good behaviour,
graceful retirement and seats are donated to non-state representatives.
This defeats the strength of the state lobby in Parliament.</p>
<p>2026 is coming, and delimitation will be revisited for alignment with
a more current census than 1971. It is conditional upon India achieving
population stability, and this is quite likely, with the <a href="http://niti.gov.in/content/total-fertility-rate-tfr-birth-woman#">total fertility rate (TFR) of the most populous BIMARU states showing a trajectory of decline</a>. This is both good news and bad news for the south.</p>
<p>The good news is that this is likely to uncap the ridiculously low <a href="http://eci.nic.in/delim/Procedure/Delimitation_of_Constituencies.pdf">ceiling on the total number of seats in both Houses of the Parliament,</a>
frozen now for decades, and the total number of seats may increase or
even double. India is hugely under-represented compared to other
democracies and this means more representatives serving the people. A
good thing.</p>
<p>The bad news is that the south stabilised its fertility levels around
2000-2005, two decades ahead of some of the most populous states in the
Hindi belt. So its population is a fraction of those states, unlike in
1971 when it was quite comparable. This implies a dramatic fall in
proportion of southern seats in the State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha.</p>
<p>This is a penalty for better governance, education attainments,
health outcomes and gender parity, these being the pivotal factors for
fertility rates to stabilise.</p>
<p>State Assembly and Lok Sabha seats are directly correlated to
population, and cannot be manipulated to avoid a south-side blow. A
Southern Collective must instead,</p>
<p>1. deliberate on how to ameliorate this;</p>
<p>2. push for increased Rajya Sabha representation; and,</p>
<p>3. pressure for increased South Indian elected representatives in Union Cabinets ongoing.</p>
<p>Given development directions and decisions have led to improved
outcomes in the South, this should be a natural choice. Plus, India can
benefit from these positive experiences.</p>
<p><strong>2. Electoral Rights</strong></p>
<p>No simultaneous elections. States must keep their time tables.</p>
<p>Parties with regional focus err in the interest of their state.
National parties can always throw a given state under the bus for their
electoral compulsions, but state parties have no choice except to cater
to voters in the state. State parties are thus the only ones with the
sole goal of growing the state and its people.</p>
<p>State and central elections with the same timetable reduces primacy
of state-level issues, state political leaders and local parties. It
muddles voter focus on local issues and paves the way for a more unitary
government. As a collective, they must propose moving towards electoral
practices that can be customised per state, like voter enrolment,
direct election of Chief Minister, or NRI voting. State elections can be
run by states themselves with oversight by GoI to ensure compliance to
the principle of free and fair elections.</p>
<p><strong>3. Economic Charter</strong></p>
<p>Review the <a href="http://www.egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2017/180483.pdf">15th Finance Commission Terms of Reference</a>, and issue recommendations to minimise the Deccan penalty.</p>
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Weightage for the 2011 census in the calculation must be decreased.
Propose use of annual statistics for migration and increased weightage
for in-migration in fiscal devolution. Use state human development
indices as reward.</li>
<li>
42% devolution recommended by the 14th Finance Commission must not be reduced.</li>
<li>
Centrally sponsored schemes must go. Commensurate funds must be devolved across states, not Centre.</li>
<li>
Revenue deficit compensation as per Constitution must continue, not to be tampered.</li>
</ul>
<p>States must be rewarded, not punished, for economic progress that
leads to better HDI. Instruments to increase revenues and jobs must be
in states' hands, not centralised.</p>
<p>Terms of Reference issued to the 15th Finance Commission may increase
weightage of the 2011 population census. This is one of the parameters
that decides how to divide funds between states. There has been a hue
and cry about this due to the resulting heavy penalty on the southern
states with their low fertility rates. This concern is real.</p>
<p>It is also true that some central transfers are proportional to the
number of people needing public services, and it is also fallacious to
stick entirely to a dated 1971 census eternally.</p>
<p>That said, the south will suffer from drastically reduced funds, and
hence an acceptable weightage must be negotiated to be fair and
equitable. <a href="https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/es2016-17/echap12.pdf">Southern states are net receivers of migrants due to job opportunities.</a>
The collective could counter some of it by asking for increasing
weightage to migrations into states. In addition, better human
development indices should be rewarded with more devolution to promote
such policies and programs.</p>
<p>The ToR also proposes that the Finance Commission relook at whether
as much as 42% should go to the states. The Centre should not be allowed
to claw this back and the Southern Collective must oppose this
vigorously. Existing revenues must be protected, and increased, for
states to grow, not vice versa.</p>
<p>Another red flag is that it rewards states to propagate centrally
sponsored schemes. Each state's needs are distinct, best assessed by the
state, and citizen services are almost entirely delivered by state
governments. Central schemes, distant from local realities, not only
encourage states to direct sparse resources to lesser or perhaps
nonexistent problems but also distracts from addressing graver matters.
Why should a Smart City or Digital India take precedence over the
tragedies that befall the children in the public hospitals of UP?</p>
<p>Centrally sponsored schemes must be scrapped and residual funds must
not get diverted into the union kitty. Further, revenue deficit grants
that are constitutionally enshrined to make up for basic development
needs of people that the state is unable to resource, must also be
protected.</p>
<p><strong>4. States' Rights</strong></p>
<p>We must divest subjects from concurrent lists to state list. State administrative services must take primacy.</p>
<p>Inherent diversity calls for balance of power between states and
Centre. States must be supreme in internal matters, preserving the
spirit of the federal constitution. Review any GoI proposed policies
leading to centralisation, prevent arbitrary anointing of powers to GoI.
States should serve as federal watch dogs.</p>
<p>The Southern Collective must refute any central interference in state
matters like examinations, language, food, socio-cultural mores and
customs. It must assert a clean separation of powers between the Centre
and state, via separate subject lists. This makes accountability for
delivery of each service crystal clear, benefitting citizens.</p>
<p>Take the example of education, where enormous resources from
infrastructure to teacher salaries are spent by states for creating
knowledge and skills for doctors, engineers, bankers and social
scientists across the cities, towns and villages of the states. Yet, the
Centre dictates what the admission criteria must be? Or sets
co-operative bank examinations in Hindi or English for a banker who
serves the hinterlands of Karnataka? This is how education and
socio-economic needs get disjointed and attainments sink even while
enrolments and literacy levels rise.</p>
<p>All public services that are of consequence to daily lives of
citizens are delivered by the states not the Centre. Also, many
administrative issues are complex and require domain expertise -
improving ports, or agricultural productivity or public health. Even law
and order. And yet India's bureaucracy is centrally controlled and
rotated relentlessly.</p>
<p>Administration efficiencies of states can be ignited via a
power-packed state civil services. The collective must recommend to
reduce power and jurisdiction of All India Services; the best talent
should be deployed in states where most of India's administration needs
exist. Building of domain expertise of administrators must be
prioritised to match each state's distinct needs. Ditto for law and
order and the police service. No cadre, or controlling authority must
exist at all India level.</p>
<p><strong>5. Cultural diversity</strong></p>
<p>States must argue for a non-negotiable two-language policy of state
language plus English. English to be the only link language across
India. There must be no discrimination against non Hindi speakers, no
privilege for Hindi in any union funding or public services. The unique
and ancient southern heritage must be explored and preserved.</p>
<p>On the socio-cultural front, a centralised approach could undermine
uniquely southern cultural elements. Languages, local mores, customs and
food habits. For instance, imagine the hegemony that overrules Tamil
Nadu's demand to use Tamil in the Madras High Court, in addition to
English and Hindi, so that defendants and witnesses get a clue of the
proceedings!</p>
<p>The fact is that the southern states share a common ancient Dravidian
cultural and linguistic history, and they are the only ones that can
preserve, enhance and celebrate it.</p>
<p>The Southern Collective must ensure that:</p>
<ul>
<li>
All articles privileging Hindi in the constitution are eliminated.</li>
<li>
All public services are available in local languages. Nationalised
banking, courts, roads, transport signage, application forms etc.</li>
<li>
National jobs, army to have English and all Indian languages over time.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>‘Thus far and no further’</strong></p>
<p>In democracy, demography is economic and political currency, and asymmetric development is a double edged sword.</p>
<p>Central government approach and policy needs to encourage
socio-economic attainments, rewarding growth states that not only
achieve higher GDP by creating jobs but also translate that into
improved human development indicators (HDIs.)</p>
<p>That – empowering states to realise their potential – along with its
own responsibilities of defence, foreign affairs, common currency,
nationwide market and some physical infrastructure, is where the
homework assignment of the Centre stops. Thus far and no further.</p>
<p>Local issues addressed at local levels makes people more responsible
for their votes. They reap what they sow; that connection is self
evident to them. It also transfers accountability to the lowest and most
local level, forcing outcomes to improve. Similarly, when local
development is enabled through locally generated revenues, it makes
governments more fiscally responsible, as opposed to looking to remote
financing.</p>
<p>Indeed much of the Charter of the Southern Collective, is simply
federalism at the Centre, autonomy for the states. Some of it could well
apply to all of India. Unfortunately, the states of the Hindi belt may
not champion these due to their extraordinary dependence on the Centre,
and the politics of those states.</p>
<p>This charter is not only an abstract governance structure, it
attempts to harmonise the diversity in governance required for the
many-hued union of states that is India.</p>
<p>This charter is but a beginning; if adopted, refined and implemented,
it can make India a more robust and mature federal democracy that is
truly "of" the people.</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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