DC Edit | Stop 'weaponising' funds to force states to toe line

The Union government’s reluctance to fulfil the requirements of democracy and the country’s federal Constitution, and its propensity to weaponise Central funding to force its agenda on states, have led to unpleasant and avoidable exchanges in Parliament, requiring the intervention of the chair and the expunging of remarks of a Union minister, which is a rare occurrence. It is time the government did a rethink on this policy in the larger interest of democracy and the welfare of the people.

The Union government putting conditions for funding welfare schemes, especially those related to health and education, on states requiring them to adopt its policies runs counter to the federal principles of the Constitution. The purse strings are indeed with the Union government, especially after the country rolled out the Goods and Services Tax, and the position taken by the finance commissions, the constitutional body mandated to devise the formula for fund sharing, of late has not helped the cause of the states either, leaving them at the mercy of the Union government. But it cannot be the reason for the Union government to release funds arbitrarily.

The Union government is the proponent of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It may be remembered that education was originally on the State List of the Constitution and was subsequently shifted to the Concurrent List. However, the NEP, as a policy, has no legal backing affording it pre-eminence over state policies. Still, the Union government wants an unwilling Tamil Nadu government to adopt it, with its concomitant three-language formula which the state has been resisting for decades; it has said the state would be deprived of funds of over Rs 2,000 crores under various Central schemes. And worse, the Union education minister now berates the state and the members of Parliament from there for taking a position contrary to that of his government.

The Union government has denied funds to other states too for refusing to fall in line and follow its policies. The Kerala health minister was heard telling the state Assembly last week that funds to the state under the National Health Mission for the financial year 2023-24 were held back because the state government refused to rebrand its healthcare infrastructure, which it has built over centuries, as per the Union government’s directives.

It is time Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the best champion the cause of cooperative federalism can have in our country today, intervenes and settles the issues in such a way that it enhances the prestige of the idea he espouses. The Union government can indeed lay the larger framework of policies but it must let the states build on it to serve the larger interest of their people. As a political party, the BJP can always propagate the virtues of the Central policy, including the three-language formula, in Tamil Nadu and win their confidence. But until such time comes, it must respect the decision of state governments to make their choices. At the end of the day, the Constitution defines India that is Bharat as a union of states.