Inter-State Council meets tomorrow after 10 years

Since 2006, Centre-state coordination on schemes was primarily through the erstwhile Planning Commission

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet state chief ministers on Saturday in what will be the first convening of the Inter-State Council (ISC), a forum mentioned in the country’s Constitution, in a decade.

The agenda for the day-long meeting will include expansion of Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT), education schemes, discussion on the Punchhi commission report on Centre-state relations and possibly on the proposed goods and services tax (GST).

The ISC was set up in 1990 as a platform for the PM, senior cabinet ministers, and all CMs and administrators of Union Territories to discuss the coordination of schemes and policies. The previous meet was in 2006. Since then, Centre-state coordination on schemes was primarily through the erstwhile Planning Commission.

The Centre wishes to expand DBT beyond cash transfers on subsidies. Bureaucrats the project will give presentations on states starting their own DBT platforms, which will incorporate, through Aadhaar, biometric identification and other mechanisms, all the cash and non-cash subsidies currently provided, a senior official said.

The aim is to expand DBT beyond monetary transfers for kerosene, foodgrain and cooking gas, into education, health facilities and subsidies for utilities like water, transport, electricity, etc.

The Punchhi commission, headed by a former Chief Justice of India, was set up by the Manmohan Singh government in 2007 and gave its report in 2010. It gave about 270 recommendations, including a six-month deadline for the President to clear state legislation, and inhibiting the Centre’s prerogative to sign international treaties without consulting states or Parliament. It also recommended an anti-conversion law and freedom for the Centre to, on its own initiative, deploy forces in states during emergencies.

Other recommendations included one which called for appointment of governors by a panel which includes the PM and the CM of the state concerned. And, that a governor not be removed unless he or she has been impeached by the legislative assembly.

Officials said that there might also be discussion on GST, though the Centre and states have more or less agreed on various issues through the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers.