Effect Of Centrally Sponsored Schemes On Centre-State Fiscal Relations
- IJLLR Journal
- 56 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Tahia Srichandan, National Law University Odisha
Introduction
Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central Sector Schemes are two categories of central welfare programs, that are government-operated programs designed to help people who lack the ability to sustain themselves financially and through other means. They are schemes that are executed by state governments under the direction of the central government with a certain shareholding. As the federal government has greater resources available, these programs are meant to support state government efforts.
In India where the population is so large and poverty is high, the provision of welfare programs to the citizens of this country has become a norm. The Central Government designs a number of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) which are majorly funded by it but are executed by states. Some examples of CSS are the Ayushman Bharat, Free and Compulsory Education to Children, etc.
But the rising number of CSS over the years has also brought scrutiny towards itself. The growing centralization of social policies has brought about a change in expenditure in the social sector. Not only in expenditure but the state social policies and planning mechanism also get affected in the whole process. Therefore, CSS has become one of the contentious aspects of Indian planning and the fiscal relationship between the centre and states.
This has significant consequences on the fiscal position of a State as the schemes are co-funded by states also. Autonomy to states in matters of fiscal decisions is also important to them so that they can devise and implement policies according to the local requirements. States in India are very diverse not just in terms of culture but also on the economic front too, so the fiscal requirements of one state differ from another drastically, so the one-fit policy designed by the Centre might not always work for all states and provide uniform results. This paper will study the effect of centralization through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) on the fiscal relation between Centre-State.
