Are Sarkaria Commission
recommendations outdated?

 LALIT SETHI

Much water has flown through the Indian rivers since the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission were implemented. There are States that have displayed pathetic ineptitude in political, financial and administrative affairs and probably they need being disciplined by the Centre. Of greater cause to worry is that of the 600 districts in the country 200 are being controlled by Maoists Naxalites. Can the new Commission set up to address problems that face the Centre and the States?
 

The Union Government has set up a new commission to review its relations with the States as it feels that the recommendations made by the Sarkaria Commission 20 years ago and implemented then have become outdated. In its opinion, it is necessary to take a close look at the new ground realities in a rapidly changing scenario, internally and world wide. The separatist movements in several parts of the country have become very volatile, if not excessively violent, threatening not only the federal structure, but posing a great danger to the nation as a whole.

Add to it the new dimension of Maoist Naxalites who have spread their network and tentacles to 200 of the 600 districts of the country and control nearly 30 per cent of the landmass, mainly in the interior, be it forests or deforested, which has thrown the Adivasis or tribals to the wolves of many kinds. They can no longer live off the land or forest produce as they have done for centuries. The cutting down of trees and forests to make room for farming and industrial projects has displaced them. Rehabilitation of these hapless people is not even in name. They are ready recruits for the revolutionary Maoists, who promise them the moon, a better tomorrow, if nothing much today. They give them guns, uniforms and bare food, but train them to loot and plunder. The Maoists are so well trained and they make forays into towns and demand ransom from the wealthy in towns and cities.

Although the terms of reference of the new commission do not talk of the Maoist threat openly, but the reference to Article 355 of the Constitution and laws under it speak of Centre's right to intervene with rapid deployment forces at times of complete breakdown of law and order is implicit. A proposal to bring up new laws or amend the Constitution to achieve this purpose has been thrown up by the Union Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patil, who knows pretty well that his coalition government cannot easily do these things even if an interim report of the commission, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, now in place, makes such a suggestion in the near future. Today's federal structure makes the Centre dependent almost totally on the regional parties and these parties are asserting their clout, and are not allowing the Centre to breathe easy.

Although the terms of reference do not possibly mention the powers of the Governors of the States, but it is implicit in the move to set up the commission, that the Centre would like to use their good offices and their power to discipline certain States, which appear to be amenable to no discipline, financial, administrative and political, leave alone the enormous lengths to which corruption has spread and the fact that the satraps of the States, regardless of their political complexion, sap their own region and their own people. Whether they are blood suckers or not had better be left unsaid.

Although the Finance Commission, new or old, is almost always in place to determine the devolution of funds from the Centre to the States and lay down the formulae for the sharing of resources on the basis of population and performance, the new commission will also examine that aspect. Whether that will amount to duplication of the work of the Finance Commission is a matter that is bound to be debated by the political class and parties in office and out of it, once they are free from the crucial Assembly elections in the second week of May or after they have overcome the summer blues, which have hit the country far and wide. The Planning Commission is another powerful authority, which monitors the performance of the States and scrutinizes their annual plans year after year on the basis of their achievements or failure to carry out projects and allocates resources to them prior to the annual budgetary process.

But as the Central realization of taxes has increased by 70 per cent in the financial year ended on March 31, the share of the States can be expected to have gone up by that massive 70 per cent, regardless of their performance. As the States are entitled to 75 per cent of the national savings schemes, and the rate of national savings has gone up to 31 per cent from 23 per cent, their share of funds from that source has also gone up by 8 per cent.

With people now switching back to bank and postal savings scheme after burning their fingers at the stock markets, the savings are expected to be more buoyant than ever. But the Centre remains concerned that even if there is no shortage of resources, the utilization of funds is poor and often there is enormous leakage of money into the pockets of all classes that have a degree of power in collusion with building mafias and contractors executing projects much below the standards required or showing them only on paper rather than on the ground.

The commission would consider a proposal whether the State Governments could be bypassed and allocations sent straight to the districts and panchayats as well as non governmental organization. It is very much on the table, but the State bosses are opposed to it tooth and nail as it diminishes their financial pre eminence. But even though the sarpanches and NGOs have welcomed the move, it is beginning to come to the surface that the sarpanches are acquiring an unheard of political power and they are enjoying it. Whether these moves will further pollute the scenario in the countryside remains to be seen. Whether these moves will succeed remains unknown.

The key question is how many years will the present commission will take to come up with its final recommendations and what will be the complexion of the government at the Centre and in the States when its recommendations are made known. How long will government take to reach a conclusion, if and when the report is ready. Will there be changes in the composition of the commission in course of time by the natural process and how will that impact the suggestions. These questions had better be left in the womb of time.

Saving water for saving the world