‘15th Finance Commission won’t penalise performing states’, says Top Finance Official

Chennai: The Finance Commission would not like to penalise states that have performed well on various development parameters, a top official said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters here 15th Finance Commission Chairman N.K. Singh said its endeavour is to ensure states that are better performing to improve further while those lagging behind in development are helped to touch the national average. He was here for deliberations with the state government.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami told the Commission that the state has serious concerns on the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission. “I wish to reiterate that we oppose the use of 2011 population data. It would punish progressive states like Tamil Nadu which have achieved success in population control through their own efforts,” Palaniswami told the Commission. “I urge the Commission to make ‘population control’ one of the points for devolution, with as much weight as ‘population’. I also request that for the purposes of devolution, 1971 data be adopted by the Finance Commission,” he said. (IANS)