First Interaction of 15th Finance Commission with the Members of Parliament held today

Parliamentarians suggested having a relook at the processes and methods of looking at the backwardness of a State.

Parliamentarians welcomed the Terms of Reference as progressive

In its endeavour to increase interaction with various stakeholders, the 15th Finance Commission today interacted with the Members of the Parliament. The Meeting was to convey the proposed schedule of the Commission’s work as well as its Terms of Reference (TOR) and also to seek their suggestions on these. Parliamentarians appreciated the inclusion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Disaster Management, Climate Change, progress made in Sanitation, Solid Waste Management and bringing in Behavioural Change to end open defecation among others.

Focus on the Aspirational Districts

Today’s meeting was the First interaction with the Parliamentarians and the process will be continued with further dialogue at State Level. The Members of the Parliament thanked the Chairman,15th Finance Commission, Shri N.K. Singh and welcomed the meeting.Parliamentarians gave their views and suggestions to further the consultative process in Delhi as well as in different States. The Meeting assumes significance as 15th Finance Commission has to work in a very different economic scenario in the light of the fact that Planning Commission is no more there and the distinction between Plan and Non Plan grants has been done away with.

Wide ranging suggestions were made by the Parliamentarians including

1.    the Status of implementation of the Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, having a relook at the processes and methods to consider the backwardness of a State including the needs of ‘Aspirational Districts’.

2.    Providing a Road Map to tackle the overall finances and to also provide a Compensation Roadmap for losses to States due to implementation of GST.

State consultations to start with Arunachal Pradesh from April 2018

Commission is starting its state level visits with Arunachal Pradesh in April 2018 and intends to finish the State Level visits by the end of the fiscal year. Since some States will be having assembly elections, visits will be arranged according to that. During State visits, Commission, apart from meeting State leadership and Government officials, will also meet various political parties, local bodies and other bodies.

The Chairman in his remarks outlined the Commission’s responsibility and TOR and solicited their views. He encouraged them to also send any letters and written comments in this regard. Meeting was arranged by PRS which acts as nodal point for such interactions.

Finance Commission interaction advances consultative TOR review and state consultations to address SDGs, disaster management and fiscal compensation. The Finance Commission presented its Terms of Reference and workplan, sought stakeholder suggestions, endorsed inclusion of SDGs, disaster management, climate change and sanitation priorities, recommended re examining methods to assess State backwardness with focus on Aspirational Districts, and was urged to provide a fiscal roadmap including compensation mechanisms for GST revenue losses; it announced state consultations beginning with Arunachal Pradesh and invited written submissions.