Attaching Strings: Centre to States & States to Cities

States love to blame the Centre. But as the Smart Cities scheme shows, they often do not use central funds responsibly. Our municipalities can do with some healthy competition

- VINAY SAHASRABUDDHE

The controversy over the Centre allegedly putting up conditions for releasing funds to Tamil Nadu needs to be objectively analysed. The moot question is not about the three-language formula or the so-called Hindi imposition on the south. It's whether states or municipal bodies can be allowed to use central funds with strings attached in the form of legitimate conditions.

It may not be the case all the time, but it's true that at times even the Tamil Nadu government releases state grants to municipal bodies while laying down some conditions. Hence, there seems to be more politics than any genuine debate here.

True, the funds belong to taxpayers from every part of India. However, since a plurality of people have elected the BJP-led government at the Centre, it not only has the authority, but also an onerous responsibility to take decisions as promised in its manifesto.

There also does not seem to be any record to suggest that the Tamil Nadu chief minister or his party had actively opposed the three-language formula when the National Education Policy 2020 was being given its final shape through a participative process. So the state leadership should not stretch this language issue too far, especially given that, like many indigenous languages, Tamil is facing the threat of encroachment from English above all.

The bigger question is about how the national mandate needs to be dealt with by states in a federal set-up. Although delicate, this critical balance between regional and unitary approaches always comes into play when central governments, mandated to govern nationally, try to implement some policies and programmes, and a few recalcitrant states put up stiff opposition. As a result, the implementation of national agendas often go unattended. States can always blame the Centre, but then they can't escape the blame coming from local bodies on similar grounds.