Editorial With Sujit Nair | Does South India Feel Left Out?

HW News Editorial with Sujit Nair

In this editorial segment, Mr. Sujit Nair addresses the imbalanced allocation of funds between northern and southern Indian states, along with the upcoming delimitation and seat redistribution in Parliament. Tamil Nadu, for every rupee it contributes to the Centre receives only 29 paise in return, while Uttar Pradesh gets ₹2.73 and Bihar receives ₹7.06. The current formula used by the Fifteenth Finance Commission (XVFC) for distributing funds from the pooled-in tax collections favors certain states, leading to significant disparities. The higher weightage given to population in the formula disproportionately benefits some northern states, causing contention between the affected states and the Centre. Tamil Nadu's Finance Minister, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, criticizes the allocation based on population, stating that it rewards states that have not effectively controlled their population.