Chairman of 14th Finance Commission YV Reddy on Thursday accepted Jharkhand had need for special attention and assured that the panel would review some of the criterion adopted by its predecessor.
“We agree with the challenges with the State. You have made some specific suggestions which would be analysed. I am getting an impression that there is lots of anguish over coal mining. You suggest that polluters should pay and we think that this is important,” he said. Responding to the demands made by the State Government, he also mentioned that several issues raised in the meeting were related to Centre-State relations but the new formula to share money would be looked into by the Commission.
Member Abhijit Sen said that the question about cost of mining was concerned with the Planning Commission and also pointed out that large part of the demand made by the State was under grant in aid. “This is a matter more with Planning Commission than with the Finance Commission. Your demand for grant in aid is unlikely to be met. You should also prioritise the sector specific demands. Also list the central schemes which you want completely chopped off,” said Sen.
M Govinda Rao said that if the State wanted the polluters to pay then it should formulate and implement regulations that lied in its domain. “We would also like to know how you tighten things to meet the fiscal targets.” Sushma Nath said that the Commission would take a holistic picture out of the CM’s remark before submitting its recommendations. She also wanted to know why Jharkhand was looking more for ‘conditional’ fund, coming in the form of grant in aid and shares 36 per cent of the total demand, unlike the other States.
Sudipto Mundleis said that controlling improver behaviour of PSUs was the duty of the State which had not been done. “It is not out terms of reference but under the Center-State relations. Your demands are more conservative in nature.”