MANIPUR: GOVERNMENT TO SEEK MORE FUNDS FROM 15TH FINANCE COMMISION FOR DEVELOPMENT

17 July 2018:

Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar Singh said the state government would urge the 15th Finance Commission to allocate more funds to the state for its all-round development.

He was speaking at a programme in Thoubal College on the topic “Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission and Its Impact on Small States with Reference to Manipur”.

Singh, who also holds the state’s finance portfolio, stressed on developing infrastructures and improving connectivity, two priority areas of the state government. He said without allocation of more funds and investment, the pace of development could not be accelerated.

The primary aim of the government is to ensure adequate infrastructures and to provide better connectivity. Adequate funds for these sectors have to be allocated by the Finance Commission, he insisted.

Singh prepared a memorandum which he would submit to the 15th Finance Commission for better power generation and supply, education infrastructures, state of the art sports infrastructures and developing all-weather roads.

He said following the introduction of GST, the taxation system had been changed and with GST, the revenue collection pattern with respect to the Centre and the State is 50:50, while in VAT regime, the pattern were 40:60 ,which meant that states share was more than the Central share.

On the Act East Policy, he said Manipur being the gateway to South East Asian countries, a lot of developmental projects to facilitate neighbouring countries needed to be developed.

Also speaking, Professor E Bijoykumar Singh, Director of Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Manipur University, said the five-yearly devolution of taxes to the states by the Finance Commission was important to ensure an all-round development.

O Chaoba Devi, principal, Thoubal College, also spoke on the importance of allocating more funds for the higher education sector.