This article was published in The New Indian Express on 26/05/2015
The Fourteenth Finance Commission’s fund devolution based on the 2011 population figures has hit the state, said economist Dr M A Oommen.“The FFC gave 90 per cent weightage for the 2011 population figures for distributing grants to local self-governments which is quite illogical. The state stands to lose as its share in the country’s population dropped from 3.93 percent in 1971 to 2.76 in 2011,” Oommen said.
He was delivering a lecture at the seminar organised by the Institute for Sustainable Development and Governance on “Fourteenth Finance Commission: Future of Centre-state relations in public finance”.“The Commission failed to recognise the state’s achievements in population control and performance of LSGs. Also, it didn’t consider the over 25 lakh migrant population in the state,” he said.Centre for Socio-Economic and Environmental Studies chairman Dr K K George said that the increase in fund transfers in the Union Budget has undermined the spirit of the FFC with the absence of matching grants.
He said that the states and Planning Boards are groping in the dark as the NITI Aayog is yet to finalise the pattern of Centre’s financial grants.Former Kerala University pro-vice chancellor Dr J Prabhash was the moderator.