Southers states penalised by Centre for performing better: Parakala Prabhaka

Hyderabad: Noted political economist Parakala Prabhakar said that the Centre was squeezing southern states much more than the others. The share of northern states in Central funds had increased over that of the southern states, he said.

Prabhakar and author and economist Mohan Guruswamy discussed the disparities in economic and social development since the country attained Independence in 1947. They explained how the southern states have done far better than India on most development indices, yet seem to be losing out in terms of financial devolution and political representation.

Prabhakar said that all the southern states except Tamil Nadu had lost significant revenues due to recommendations of 15th Finance Commission which had taken the 2011 Census and not, as earlier agreed upon, the 1971 Census as base for recommending funds and tax devolution to states. This adversely affected southern states financially and politically.

Prabhakar said AP's share in central funds fell from 1.81 per cent in 14th Finance Commission to 1.69 per cent in 15th Finance Commission and for Telangana from 1.02 per cent to 0,87. The picture was the same in the divisible pool of tax revenues, where AP's share fell from 4.31 to 4.11 per cent and for Telangana from 2.43 to 2.13 per cent.

The population growth was lower in southern states which had adopted stricter family planning measures while the population growth in northern states was higher. Prabhakar asked how far it was fair to penalise southern states for performing better.