Centre ought to have consulted states on terms of reference to Finance Commission: Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday remarked that the Centre ought to have consulted the State governments before introducing additional terms of reference for the 15th Finance Commission seeking to create separate funds for Defence and Internal Security.

Asserting that unilateralism was not good for a federal polity and cooperative federalism, Mr. Singh said the best course would have been to go back to to the Chief Ministers’ conference and consult with the States. “Otherwise there will be a strong feeling that the central government is trying to rob the States of its due resources and that is not good for the federal polity and cooperative federalism that we all swear by,” he added, addressing a seminar on ‘Additional terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission: Implications for the States’.

“Cooperative federalism demands give and take and therefore it is important that the central government should take the initiative to consult the States as often as necessary to carry them along rather than imposing its views,” Mr. Singh remarked.

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