New Delhi, June 6 (IANS). The central government is going to take an important step towards making fiscal decentralization in India more effective and evidence-based. In this sequence, the report of the “Committee on Dataset for State Finance Commissions” will be released on Monday.
According to an official statement, the report will be released by Dr. V. Ananth Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the government. During this, Secretary of Panchayati Raj Ministry, Vivek Bhardwaj, Dr. Manish Gupta, Associate Professor of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and many other senior officials will also be present.
After the release of the report, the Chief Economic Advisor will deliver a keynote address on data-driven policymaking and evidence-based financial governance.
He will explain how important policies based on reliable data and facts are for strong local self-governance and inclusive growth.
This report presents a systematic and comprehensive outline of the data and information required by the State Finance Commissions.
The report provides practical suggestions for increasing the availability of data, its standardization, better coordination (interoperability) between different systems and strengthening institutional capacity for financial analysis at the local level.
According to the government statement, this report will prove to be an important reference document for state governments, state finance commissions, constitutional institutions, economic researchers and all stakeholders working for democratic decentralization and strengthening local public finance in India.
The State Finance Commission constituted under Article 243-I of the Constitution is the principal constitutional body charged with reviewing the financial position of the Panchayat Raj institutions and making recommendations to decide the principles for distribution of financial resources to the local bodies.
According to the Ministry, State Finance Commissions require reliable, timely and detailed data on finances, population, infrastructure, service delivery and asset management of local bodies to discharge their constitutional responsibilities in an effective and credible manner.
The Panchayati Raj Ministry had constituted this committee following concerns raised during the Finance Commission Conference on “Financial Transfers for Development” held in November 2024.
The conference was organized under the leadership of the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, in which difficulties in obtaining comprehensive data from various departments and agencies were identified as a major challenge affecting the quality and timeliness of the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions.
The Government believes that implementation of the recommendations of this report will provide better data to the State Finance Commissions, which will enable more accurate and effective financial recommendations to be made for local bodies and will strengthen fiscal decentralization in the country.
–IANS
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