Advocating the introduction of a more effective mechanism to transfer resources to the states from the Centre, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that though states had distinctive features, they all suffered from the same problems like poverty, backwardness, lack of infrastructure and diseases.
The President, while speaking after receiving a copy of the book titled The New Bihar — rekindling governance and development from Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said, “The basic objective of development planning is to fight against these challenges (poverty, backwardness, lack of infrastructure and diseases).”
On transfer of resources beyond the statutory route, he said, “Now if you want to do it and have a fresh look at it, perhaps time has come when we should concentrate on this and all stakeholders to put their heads together and find out if there could be a more appropriate mechanism through which the resources can be transferred (to the states).”
The Centre transfer funds to the states through the Finance Commission award and states also have access to central funds Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and Central assistance to state plans.
The President did make it clear at the outset that he was not going to discuss the growth strategy or model as his position mandated him to act on the advice of the council of ministers. He said, “Therefore, I am not indulging in any comment on developmental model, success and failure of the governments in the states or in the federation.”
Sharing his thoughts on the occasion, Rajya Sabha MP and one of the book’s editors N.K. Singh drew the attention of the audience to the cover of the book that showed a girl riding a bicycle in a Madhubani painting. He termed it a mix of tradition and modern theme. Mr Singh also pointed to the fact that the development of Bihar in the last few years has reversed the “pessimistic scenario.” He further added that the book lists out the developmental challenges of the states and refers to a more participative model.