HYDERABAD: IT, Industries and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao batted for transfer of more subjects to States from the concurrent list at a panel discussion in the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit 2019 in Delhi on Thursday.
Speaking on Centre-State relations, Rama Rao said: “We have to understand each others’ boundaries, roles and responsibilities. Delhi needs to understand when it should step in and when it should not. There is a States list, there is a Central list and there is a concurrent list. I think they have to take a lot of things off the concurrent list and the Central list. Give them to the States so that the States will perform better.”
Stating that stronger States will only lead to a stronger country, Rama Rao said: “The prime minister keeps talking about team India and cooperative federalism. We heard a lot. I think now it is time to actually start delivering the promise and make things happen.”
Speaking on how the States depend on the Centre, he referred to a past incident to make his point. “We (States) still run to Delhi for a lot of things. A manufacturing industry wanted to start its unit in Hyderabad. But the Centre imposed several conditions. There were trade barriers. I told the investor that we would be their advocate and we will plead their case with the Centre. We told them that the State would throw its weight behind them. So that it will lend some credence to investor’s argument. That is how a true federal structure comes into play and the State would actually affect some serious changes,” Rama Rao said.
Stumbling block
Speaking about urban planning, he cited another example and said: “I have gone to an agency outside India for an infrastructure project for Hyderabad. Unfortunately, the funds have to be routed through the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). The DEA said that it is not allowed, citing FRBM rules and a bunch of other restrictions. The DEA slammed the door on us.”
“The Central government should be an enabler and it cannot be a stumbling block in the ways of States receiving capital from agencies across the world. Unless we solve this puzzle, the urban infrastructure will crumble. The GDP of the country will continue to come down,” Rama Rao said.
He said that though India lives in its villages, India is run by its cities. “The urban infrastructure is crumbling. If there was a dearth of planners, some external agencies could be roped in. There is no dearth of ideas for urban planning. But there is a serious dearth of capital for urban infrastructure,” the Urban Development Minister explained.
At the summit, KTR participated in a panel discussion on the ‘Union of States’. The other panellists who shared their insights during the session were chief ministers Amarinder Singh of Punjab, Conrad Sangma of Meghalaya and Kamal Nath of Madhya Pradesh, as well as Minister for Industries, Commerce and Information Technology, Andhra Pradesh, Mekapati Goutham Reddy. The panellists discussed the dynamics between the Centre and the States.