Don't reduce devolution

Increasing grants and tied funds not enough

In recent decades, the responsibilities associated with running a state government have increased considerably. A greater political emphasis on the services that state governments can and must provide has become the norm. This has naturally been associated with the increased devolution of the tax pool to the governments that are the primary interface of the citizen and the Indian state. The Fifteenth Finance Commission is reportedly set to reverse this trend. It is likely, according to a report in this newspaper, that the existing share of the divisible pool of taxes that is set aside for state government spending —