15th Finance Commission submits report to President Ram Nath Kovind

Team Udayavani, Nov 9, 2020, 4:37 PM IST

New Delhi: The 15th Finance Commission, chaired by N K Singh, on Monday submitted its report for 2021-22 to 2025-26 to President Ram Nath Kovind.

The report titled ‘Finance Commission in Covid Times’ was submitted by Singh along with members of the Commission — Ajay Narayan Jha, Anoop Singh, Ashok Lahiri and Ramesh Chand.

Last year, the Commission had submitted its report containing recommendations for 2020-21 which was accepted by the Union Government and tabled in Parliament on January 30, 2020.

“15th Finance Commission led by Chairman N K Singh, today submitted its report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 to the Hon’ble President of India,” an official statement said.

As per the terms of reference (ToR), the Commission was mandated to give its recommendations for five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

The Commission was asked to give its recommendations on wide-ranging issues. Apart from the vertical and horizontal tax devolution, local government grants, disaster management grant, it was also asked to examine and recommend performance incentives for states in many areas like power sector, adoption of direct benefit transfer, solid waste management etc.

The Commission was also asked to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up and if so how such a mechanism could be operationalised.

“The Commission has sought to address all its ToRs in this report to the Union government,” the statement added.

This report has been organised in four volumes. Volume I and II, as in the past, contain the main report and the accompanying annexes.

Volume III is devoted to the Union Government and examines key departments in greater depth, with the medium-term challenges and the road map ahead. Volume IV is entirely devoted to states.

“The Commission has analysed the finances of each state in great depth and has come up with state-specific considerations to address the key challenges that individual states face,” the statement added.

The report would be made public after it is tabled in Parliament by the government. The cover and title of the report are also unique and the use of scales on the cover indicates the balance between the states and the Union, it said.