The 16th Finance Commission, which is on a two-day visit to Goa from 9th to 10th January, met with various stakeholders and heard their views on specific issues pertaining to the State as part of preparing its recommendations to Government of India. The first meeting of the Commission was held with the Government of Goa led by Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant in Panaji today.
The Chief Minister made specific recommendations regarding the division of funds during a presentation to the Finance Commission. He proposed that the share of states in the vertical devolution of funds be increased from the current 41% to 50%. This recommendation aligns with a common request from other states, as 14 out of the 15 states visited by the Commission have similarly suggested raising the share to 50%, while one state recommended a 45% share.
Ministers of the State Government, Chief Secretary, Secretaries of various ministries, and senior officials of different departments were present at the meeting.
Talking about the meeting at a press conference later, Commission Chairman Dr. Arvind Panagariya said that in terms of horizontal devolution, Goa had suggested a different approach compared to the criteria used by the 15th Finance Commission. The Goa government proposed that in horizontal allocation of funds, the weightage given to income distance may be reduced from 45% to 30%. It was also demanded that allocation based on sustainable development goals may be given 12.5% weightage. The government also proposed that tax effort criteria may be given 5% weightage from earlier 2.5% weightage.
Overall, the changes proposed by the Government of Goa are practically more than four-fold increase in the share of the State, the Commission Chairman said.
The last thing that was discussed was a number of projects on the basis of which the state government has asked for a state specific grant. There are about 13 different projects in different areas such as tourism, education, health, information, technology, climate change management, etc. The government has asked for a separate state specific grant of 32,706.45 crore rupees, the Commission added.
The delegation also includes the members of the 16th Finance Commission – Annie George, Ajay Narayan Jha, Dr. Manoj Panda and Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh. Later the day, the Commission also met with representatives of Urban Local Bodies, Panchayati Raj Institutions, members of the Industry/Trade, Commerce and the representatives of the various political parties.
