Reimagine Political System To Solve Delimitation Puzzle

We can't weaken the democratic principle of valuing all citizens equally, nor punish the south for better governance. A stronger Rajya Sabha and more decentralisation are better options

- SHASHI THAROOR

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin's decision to "up the ante" on the north-south divide by constituting a joint action committee to fight against the proposed re-delimitation of parliamentary constituencies after the next census has brought this vexed issue to the forefront.

His logic is clear and supported by recent history. In 1976, the omnibus 42nd Amendment to the Constitution froze for 25 years the allocation of Lok Sabha seats on the basis of the 1971 census to encourage population control, by assuring states that success in limiting population would not lose them Lok Sabha seats. In 2001, Vajpayee's NDA government extended this arrangement for another 25 years in what became the 84th Amendment.

The thinking was based on the sound principle that the reward for responsible stewardship of development could not be political disenfranchisement. While a democracy must value all its citizens equally—whether they live in a progressive state or one that, by failing to empower its women and reducing total fertility, has allowed its population to shoot up—no federal democracy can live with the perception that states would lose political clout if they develop well, while others would gain more seats in parliament as a reward for failure.

The southern states have prospered while curbing their populations. While northern states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh had a decadal population growth of over 20 percent between 2001 and 2011, southern states like undivided Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu grew at less than 16 percent. Kerala has the country's lowest growth rate (4.9 percent over 2001-11, or less than half a percent a year). That is one-fifth of Bihar's. When the next census is conducted, it will almost certainly show that Kerala has lost population since 2011. Andhra Pradesh may well find itself in the same boat.