In interaction with 15th Finance Commission, call for shift in focus from mitigation

Economists and domain experts on Wednesday called for more investment in adaptation strategies, which would be helpful for better disaster management.

They made this suggestion at a two-hour-long session here with the visiting 15th Finance Commission, headed by N.K. Singh.

The economists preferred the change to the present trend of focusing on mitigation. They also provided inputs on strengthening the framework to tackle global warming and climate change; their consequences on environment and treating the issue in a broader sense. The need for a broader perspective of ecological preservation was stressed unlike the emphasis on simply forest cover.

Among those who attended the session were Santha Sheela Nair, former Vice-Chairperson of the State Planning Commission, Paul Appasamy, former Director of the Madras School of Economics, and V.R. Muraleedharan, professor and coordinator of the Centre for Technology and Policy, IIT Madras.

Mr. Singh told reporters that “valuable suggestions” were made on variables that needed to be kept in mind in estimating the nominal GDP; making assumptions regarding inflation on real GDP growth and risks and challenges that lie ahead for the period of 2020-2025.

An official release stated that when representatives of political parties, trade and industry and local bodies met the Commission earlier in the day and urged the panel not to penalise “performing States” such as Tamil Nadu, Mr. Singh, in his response, reaffirmed the Commission’s “even handed” approach vis-a-vis States and the Centre. The industry representatives raised issues related to land acquisition, water availability for industry and agriculture and grid development for green energy.

Former Finance Minister C. Ponnaiyan, who represented the AIADMK along with Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Pollachi V. Jayaraman during the deliberations with the Commission, said the Centre should fully absorb the expenditure for Centrally-allocated schemes. The quantum of share of States in devolution of funds should at least be in excess of 50%, with reduced scope for discretionary grants to be provided by the Centre. The Union government should also share “considerably” proceeds from the collection of cesses and surcharges.

Americai V. Narayanan, spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, wanted the Commission to take into account the presence of a significant number of migrant ageing population in States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while finalising devolution of funds. He requested the Commission to ensure that the Central budget provided an additional 5% to incentivise panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies.