SC cautions against Centre-State’s disputes

A division bench of Supreme Court verbally observed that various state governments are directly approaching the top court seeking similar reliefs while there should be no contest between the Centre and states.

1: Dimension-Reason behind increasing tussle

• Encroaching interesting areas: Areas of governance which are essentially local in nature are being encroached upon by Union as electoral compulsions require greater connect with the people. 
  • Example:Health being a state subject, the recent announcement by the Centre to provide free food grains to nearly 80 crore people is clearly part of this trend.
• Gradual encroachment by the Centre on the states' domain through direct funding and policy implementation, leading to challenges in service delivery and credit attribution. The Government in India is more involved directly in these state’s subjects.
  • Take education and health, both primarily responsibility of the states and both encroached upon by the Centre.
• Fiscal centralization: The unequal distribution of financial resources between the Centre and the states, coupled with the Centre's increasing control over tax revenues, has fueled disputes over fiscal autonomy.
  • Example: Goods and Services Tax (GST), leading to tensions between the Centre and the states.
• Policy conflicts: Divergent political ideologies and policy priorities between the Centre and various states often result in disagreements over the implementation of national policies at the regional level.

2: Dimension-Required Measures

• Minding one’s work: The Centre must maintain the monopoly of the national agenda. It must though let the States do their own work. The Concurrent List must be dismantled or at least shrunk and a new list that empowers local governments be instituted.
• Decentralisation: The phraseology of and the need for decentralisation, delegation and devolution have appeared repeatedly in committees and commissions-including the Rajamanar (Centre-State Relations Inquiry) Committee, the Sarkaria Commission, the Administrative Reforms Commission and the 2010 report of the Inter-State Council on centre-state relations.
• Modern approach: Indian Polity demands a modern approach to transformation-the induction of efficiency, accountability and outcome orientation