<h1>Special financial package request to offset exclusion from externally aided projects and seek enhanced tax devolution.</h1> Arunachal Pradesh requested the 16th Finance Commission for a special financial package to offset exclusion from externally aided projects, restoration of Special Category Status, increased vertical devolution of central taxes, and a larger share in horizontal devolution. The state proposed revising horizontal criteria by increasing the weight for forest and ecology and substituting demographic performance with a preservation of tribal heritage criterion, and sought full central funding for centrally sponsored schemes to address its unique hilly and northeastern needs.