Regional Identity And Being Part Of The Mainstream

Context: The country should be moving toward cooperative federalism and not coercive federalism.

Various dimensions of federal issues in contemporary times

• Political issues – Narrowing political vision and centralisation: A myopic view of “nationalism” by certain sections is overriding questions of regional identities and regional aspirations.
• Fiscal issues – Biases in revenue sharing: 
  • Case study – Worsening fiscal position of Karnataka: Karnataka’s share of tax devolution has been reduced from 4.72% in the Fourteenth Finance Commission to 3.64% in the Fifteenth Finance Commission due to a skewed preference to the 2011 population.  
  • Southern states subsidising northern states: 
    • Karnataka contributes more than Rs 2.2-lakh crore to central taxes but in return receives less than Rs 30,000 crore.
    • For every one rupee of tax contributed by Uttar Pradesh, that State receives more than Rs 1.79. For every one rupee of tax contributed by Karnataka, the State receives less than Rs 0.47.
  • Denial of Goods and Services Tax compensation cess as promised by the central government through the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, further worsened the financial position of many states during the pandemic.
• Social issues: 
  • Neglecting regional identity aspirations: Demands for the state flag (by Karnataka), policies giving primacies to regional languages etc., are being side-lined by the Central government.
  • Biases in recruitment processes: E.g. Recently, the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection notification were notified to be conduct examinations only in English and Hindi.
  • Centralisation of education: The National Education Policy is used as a tool to proliferate Hindi in non-Hindi States and to take away the rights of the States by promoting centralisation with respect to education.
    • Under the new three-language formula, as the schools will not have enough resources and faculties to teach another third language, Hindi remains the only choice.

Conclusion: Modern India is conceptualised on the idea of unity in diversity, and all our actions should be sensitive to protecting this beautiful idea. The demands for greater federal autonomy and recognition of regional identity are consistent with our nation.