Mamata Banerjee asks PM Modi to reconsider finance panel's mandate

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to reconsider the present terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission, which would use the population data of 2011 for its recommendations.

In her letter, dated April 20, Ms Banerjee said the decision of changing the population base from 1971 census to 2011 was taken “unilaterally” without any consultation with the states.

She said the Centre’s decision would “disincentives the good governance of states such as West Bengal” and sought “justice” from the prime minister. “It (the present ToR) would result in a very significant loss in devolution to many states,” Ms Banerjee said in the letter.

In such a situation, Ms Banerjee said, West Bengal was likely to lose between Rs 22,000 crore and Rs 35,000 crore from 2020-2025 due to the use of the 2011 census.

“We are getting worried as the Finance Commission, soon after it has been set up, has started with a mandate to use the population data of 2011 while working on its recommendations. This will cause huge deprivation to the state,” Ms Banerjee said in the letter.

“The Finance Commission has done this without consulting the states, which is against the spirit of federal structure of the nation,” she said.

The past Finance Commissions had used population as one of the criteria of determining the share of each individual state in the divisive pool while recommending devolution between the states, it said.

The weightage given to population as criteria has considerably reduced from 80 per cent in the 1st Finance Commission to 27.5 per cent in the 14th Finance Commission, the letter said.

“We strongly urge the central government to immediately modify the ToR of the 15th Finance Commission so that the 1971 population is used by the Finance Commission to recommend its award,” Ms Banerjee said.