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Centre pays due attention to state govts, says Indrajit Gupta

Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta said on Tuesday that views of the state governments now receive due attention and respect as part of the Centre's continuing efforts to devolve more powers to the states.

"We don't want to impose anything on states. The policy of the United Front government at the Centre is to advance the principles of political, administrative, and economic federalism," he said after inaugurating the 22nd meeting of the Southern Zonal Council of States at the Kanakakkunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram.

Gupta said the state governments were being entrusted with greater decision-making powers and greater financial powers, and a greater say to decide schemes which were good for various areas and segments of society. Regional aspirations were being given due weightage. At the same time, regional parties were also developing a national perspective for making the country stronger, he said.

Gupta said the Inter-State Council, which had been dormant for about six years, had been reactivated and its standing committee was meeting frequently to finalise the pending recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-state relations.

He expressed satisfaction over the good progress made in implementing most of the recommendations made at the last meeting of the Southern Zonal Council. Out of the 22 recommendations made, good progress had been made in the implementation of 13 recommendations.

Gupta said the unanimous demand of southern states for the setting up of a Southern Gas Grid had been accepted in principle and there was an urgent need to expedite it.

He said one pending recommendation related to the encouragement of the small savings sector. Although the ministry of finance had taken steps for its improvement, most of the states were not yet fully satisfied. They had made some suggestions, which would receive the due attention of the finance ministry.

An irritating issue concerned the consignment tax, which needed resolution at a higher national level and was receiving constant attention in other fora.

Presiding over the Southern Zonal Council, Kerala Chief Minister E K Nayanar said a decision must be taken to make the Southern Zonal Council a genuinely regional council, instead of it being an arm of the Union home ministry.

"Initiatives must largely emerge here and not from New Delhi," he said, adding, "We belive that the existing mechanism and framework within which the council is supposed to function are not conducive to its effective working. "

The member-states of the zonal council, he said, had little scope to meet and discuss their common problems, difficulties, and differences under the existing framework.

"Unless suitable measures are evolved for the effective functioning of the council, it is better that we wind up this arrangement," Nayanar said.

In this context, Nayanar strongly recommended the formation of a zonal secretariat consisting of the chief secretaries of the member states, with each chief secretary chairing the secretariat for one year by rotation. The chief secretaries should meet and discuss at least once every six months matters of mutual interest and report to their chief ministers, who should meet at least once a year.

"My idea is not at all to establish a parallel institution or to overshadow the existing council but to raise it from its present moribund state and make it a live and vibrant body," he said.

Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Ashok Gajapathiraju, Tamil Nadu Law Minister Aladi Aruna, Karnataka Rural Development Minister M P Prakash, besides the chief secretaries of the four states and of Pondicherry, attended the meeting.

Several issues were discussed at the meeting. The member-states stressed the need for the early commissioning of the Southern Gas Grid project.

They wanted more incentives and concessions to boost small savings. While Kerala opposed the consignment tax, others favoured its imposition. Since the issue concerned the country, it was decided to refer the issue to the Inter-State Council.

The Souther Zonal Council also wanted a narrowing down of the differences in the sales tax and excise duty rates among the states and referred the matter to the Inter-State Council.

It requested member-states to earmark adequate funds for the welfare of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes based on their population and ensure cent per cent utilisation of the funds.

The Union home minister, earlier, advocated equitable apportioning of inter-state river waters for the benefit of the entire region and asked the matter to be referred to the Inter-State Council.

The zonal council suggested setting up of groundwater authorities on the lines of Central Ground Water Authority for tackling the problem of the decline in the water table and damage of potential aquifers.

UNI