Constitute High-level Committee For Resolution of Issues Between States and Centre :-Rajasthan Chief Minister Smt. Raje
New Delhi:-. Rajasthan Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje has suggested for setting-up an empowered-committee under the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog for coordination and resolution of issues of various projects initiated by different ministries of the union government and the State governments. This would give a push to various development projects.Smt. Raje was participating in the first meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog at the Prime Minister Residence in New Delhi on Sunday. Chief Ministers of different states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories participated in the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
Presenting the view of Rajasthan Smt. Raje suggested for allowing the states to prepare and implement various development projects as per the regional conditions & specific requirement and providing central funds for such schemes. She further suggested to restrict the number of centre-sponsored schemes to 10 and to allow the states for utilization of rest of the funds for such central schemes. Arguing for better coordination between the centre and states on all issues the CM opined that the planning of development schemes should be done by the states as per the local needs and specific regional requirements. She further suggested for doing away with artificial distinction between the plan and non-plan funds. She said that there should be no need for approval of an ‘integrated scheme’ and the states should also be provided support of experts for preparing vision documents of the schemes.
Smt. Raje said that generally the states would run out of steam in implementing the central schemes and no resources would remain left to attend to the state’s niche requirements. For example, in Rajasthan during 2014-15, out of total plan allocation in education sector, 97.5% funds were spent in matching the central grants. Thus, for the state schemes we could have negligible 2.5% of funds. For resolution of such issues she suggested that the number of centre-sponsored schemes be limited to 10. Also, the subjects of such schemes should be restricted to the Union and the Concurrent lists, she said.
The CM said that remaining funds from the centre be provided to the state as block grants. This would be kind of financial support and in the the states like Rajasthan would be enabled to formulate schemes for specific requirements like drinking water schemes in Daang, Magra, Mewat, Devnarayan regions etc.Smt. Raje further suggested for a joint review of the provisions of centre-sponsored schemes so that the state-specific issues could be identified and resolved accordingly. She underlined the need for review of schemes like NREGS, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna, NDRF etc and said that in view of the continuous problem of drought and famine in Rajasthan the need of fodder and financial support remained even beyond 90 days. Thus, the NDRF provisions required immediate amendments, she said.
Arguing in favour of the cooperative federal structure of NITI aayog, the Chief Minister said that development of a structure based on dialogue between the states and the centre be promoted through this institute, so that all the states could put forward their demands and requirements independently. She further appreciated the constitution of an empowered committee of the finance ministers of different states for developing consensus on the GST and said that such mechanism be established for the NITI Aayog as well. For this, regional and sectorial sub-groups be constituted including the chief ministers and the union ministers.The CM said that the Aayog should act as a “resource centre” where states were provided with data, analyses and studies of comparative analysis of the excellent works. Through this a sense of competitiveness among the states could also be promoted. She further suggested that wherever a right-based Act was promulgated, to minimize the burden of funds on the states, the cost for implementation of such Acts should also be provided by the centre.
Smt. Raje assured the central government to provide full support for its public-welfare schemes. She said that to ensure unabated development and resolution of issues in implementing the central government schemes working groups should be set-up including the chief secretaries of the states and the secretaries of the central ministries. Similar groups be set-up for early resolution of inter-state disputes, issues between the states and the centre and special schemes prepared by the state governments.
