REIMAGINE FEDERALISM TO REDUCE CENTRE-STATE SPATS

STATES agitating against the Centre's alleged discriminatory treatment against them is not a positive development.

- k jayakumar

However, the Constitution anticipated such disputes and has provided for institutional arrangements to resolve them. The National Development Council set up in 1952 and the Inter-State Council set up in 1990 under Article 263 are the two major arrangements to resolve such disputes and enhance cooperation. What does the new phase of disenchantment signify? Is it that the established instruments are unable to tackle the emerging challenges? Or is it that the spirit of the Constitution has been tarnished by partisan and discriminatory politics? The Centre-State relationship pivots on the federal structure that functions on the basis of cooperation and collaboration.

Without the instrumentality of the states, the implementation of several central schemes is bound to face a setback. Similarly, an adversarial relationship is bound to have financial repercussions for the state. The fact that several states feel deprived of their due share of the central kitty and constrained by discriminatory approaches cannot be brushed aside as political optics. There is not only no geographical divide as has been alleged, but the sentiment of injustice is shared across regions. It is common to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan (during the time of Ashok Ghelot government), Kerala, Karnataka and Punjab. Almost all nonBJP-ruled states are aggrieved.

The central government cannot wash its hands of this mess. The root lies not in superficial discrimination on political lines but in the philosophy of hypercentralisation, religiously practiced by this government at the Centre.