Anathema of Over Centralisation

India is successful because of its federal setup. Despite its multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-political geographic spread, India survives successfully because of the smooth center-state relations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised during 2014 election campaign to create a Team India if his party wins majority in the parliament and to ensure “Minimum Government and Maximum Governance”. He won but there is a big threat to the autonomy of states and its auto piloted growth. Like father completely controlling the life of his children, central government is doing everything what states should do. This complete interference in the development of states will kill the efficiency of states. In the long run, federal setup will be ruined.

In his initial days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi acted truly as the captain of Team India by promoting co-operative federalism. One of the landmark achievements of captain Modi is the increase in the states’ share of central taxation from 32 percent to 42 percent. No idea why the true spirited captain of co-operative federalism is turning into a captain of conflictual federalism?

From converting state highways into national highways, from taking control of the education which is in the concurrent list to providing electricity, central government is stepping into the shoes of states. With the rolling out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July, states will lose more of its financial muscle. There are several areas where is an increasing interference or complete takeover of the central government. Some of them are,

1.     Conversion of state highways into national highways.

2.     Under UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) Scheme, state power corporations are brought under the guidance of the central government

3.     Entrance exams for professional courses conducted by the centre. NEET (National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test) for the admission into medical colleges is the recent case in point. Instead of encouraging states to improve their quality of education, a centralized system and examination will be counterproductive.

4.     Goods and Services Tax (GST) will definitely be a boon to the producers, transporters and consumers. This will strengthen the hands of center.

5.     Abolition of regional councils of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)

6.     Extraction of hydrocarbon in the states where there is a huge public opposition and state government’s objections

7.     Targeting of opposition ruled states. Earlier horse-trading was encouraged by the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand. The governments were toppled. Due to the interference of the courts, these governments were installed back.

The common charge by the centre for these interferences is that the state governments are not capable of delivering quick results. This may be true. But it should not be an invitation for the centre to take complete control over the development of states. For instance, the regional councils of NCTE located in Jaipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru were abolished because these councils breed corruption. One person asked “Can the headquarters be free from corruption? There is no answer to it. Regional Councils were created to make sure the faster decisions and growth. But now India is going back to square one with the centralized approach.

Yes, there is a total compromise in quality of services provided by the government machineries. Be it education or electricity or health or roadways. Instead of completely bringing these sectors under the centre, it should rank states according to its performance and give them awards. This competitiveness can improve the quality of state’s development. For instance, ranking of clean cities has increased the competition among states to improve its cleanliness. “Doing Business with Ease” survey has been improving states efficiency in reaching out to business groups.

Central regulatory authorities must be put in place to speed up the judicious development. In this connection, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) are the exemplary performers. These regulatory bodies must be in the hands of sincere veterans.  

For a vast country like India, too much of central interference in state affairs is detrimental for the future national growth. Instead, the center should be a good motivator and guru to the states. Like Dhorancharya to the success of Arjuna, Centre can be a powerful motivating guru for the states.