Considering the impact created by pandemic, there is a need to create a permanent fiscal secretariat to rethink on allocation of resources in the country. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· During Covid-19, ensuring essential food supplies especially for the economically vulnerable population has been a challenging task for the government.
· Apart from rice and wheat—which have been a regular part of supplies through the public distribution system (PDS)—1 kg pulses per month per household as identified under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) are being distributed free of cost from the government buffer maintained under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) for eight months (April to November 2020) under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to alleviate the hardships of the poor.
· Also, the Finance Commission (FC) set up under Article 280 of the Constitution has a vital role to play in the devolution of financial resources from the Centre to states. It is entrusted with evaluation of the state of finances of the Union and state governments, recommend the sharing of taxes between them, and lay down the principles determining the distribution of these taxes amongst states.
· The FC grants devolving to states are crucial in boosting the finances of states as their own revenue handles are relatively limited.
· Considering the extant case of agriculture, interventions by the government are at multilevel (Centre/states). They are funded from different avenues: completely by the Centre (central schemes like PSF/PSS, and others); shared in CSS (PMKSY); or funded by state governments themselves from their own revenues/borrowings/various fund flows from the Centre.
· Given the complex and diverse nature of plethora of interventions (and associated fund flows from various avenues) as outlined above, there is a need to evaluate these in a holistic and integrated manner at the level of states (both individually and collectively) as well as the Centre (state-wise and as a whole).
· This is imperative in understanding the nature of fiscal flows to the agricultural sector in a quantitative manner as well as in qualitative terms .
· The recommendation of the 14th FC of setting up a permanent secretariat of the FC as an autonomous institution as far as the fiscal side (government revenues and expenditure) is concerned, as a counterpart to the Reserve Bank of India, which enjoys the required autonomy to cater to monetary policy of the nation.
· Fiscal expenditure has a crucial role to play in addressing macroeconomic concerns (growth and employment). The Covid-19 pandemic has compelled us to rethink allocation of financial and other resources to priority sectors and initiate reforms.
aswin 4 years
Please review
IAS Parliament 4 years
Try to include about the impact of pandemic. Keep Writing.
Venkateshwaran R 4 years
Kindly provide feedback. Thank you Sir
IAS Parliament 4 years
Try to elaborate more on Public distribution system. Keep Writing.
Venkateshwaran R 4 years
