19/09/2020 - Indian Polity

KEY POINTS

·         In spite of the rather unilateral response in terms of imposing a nationwide lockdown, the Centre eventually chose to work carefully with the states. And, the most cynical of the chief ministers professed working with the Centre and other states to deal with a variety of challenges posed by the pandemic.

·         The experience offers an opportunity to revisit the recent debate around the federal organisation of powers under the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule. It has been argued that such organisation of powers is not cast in stone and the arrangement requires a review.

·         Centrally sponsored schemes must continue but they should be restructured. In addition to the schemes’ rationale of reducing the horizontal and vertical imbalances among states, the Centre is also obligated to address the externalities of the states’ developmental efforts under the subjects allocated to them.

·         Three, there is a need for an appropriate forum to discuss the complex and contentious issue of reviewing federal organisation of powers and restructuring of central transfers.

·         The Centre’s efforts are now primarily focused on achieving economies of scale in vaccine procurement, knowledge production for setting standards and guidelines for the states, and mitigating inter-state externalities.

·         States continue to play the dominant role in the execution of the actual response to the health crisisThe GST reforms is the most recent instance of such reworking of the Centre-state roles for a greater and collective goal. It involved a tortuous, but a new consensus building approach to implement the reforms.

·         The ongoing friction between the Centre and the states over GST reforms tells us that consensus-building is not a one-time exercise. It has to allow sustained dialogue and deliberation.