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The Finance Commission is a constitutional body formed by the President of India to give suggestions on centre-state financial relations. The 15th Finance Commission is required to submit two reports. The first report will consist of recommendations for the financial year 2020-21. The final report with recommendations for the 2021-26 period will be submitted by October 30, 2020. In this post, we explain the key recommendations of the report.
What is the amount of tax devolution to the states, and how is it being calculated?
The Finance Commission uses certain criteria when deciding the devolution to states. For example, income distance criterion has been used by the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions. Under this criterion, states with lower per capita income would be given a higher share to maintain equity among states. Another example is Demographic Performance criterion which has been introduced by the 15th Finance Commission. The Demographic Performance criterion is to reward efforts made by states in controlling their population.
The 15th Finance Commission used the following criteria while determining the share of states: (i) 45% for the income distance, (ii) 15% for the population in 2011, (iii) 15% for the area, (iv) 10% for forest and ecology, (v) 12.5% for demographic performance, and (vi) 2.5% for tax effort. For 2020-21, the Commission has recommended a total devolution of Rs 8,55,176 crore to the states, which is 41% of the divisible pool of taxes. This is 1% lower than the percentage recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
Table 1 below compares the new criteria with the criteria recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
Table 1: Criteria for devolution (2020-21)
|
Criteria |
14th FC 2015-20 |
15th FC 2020-21 |
|
Income Distance |
50.0 |
45.0 |
|
Population 1971 |
17.5 |
- |
|
Population 2011 |
10.0 |
15.0 |
|
Area |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
Forest Cover |
7.5 |
- |
|
Forest and Ecology |
- |
10.0 |
|
Demographic Performance |
- |
12.5 |
|
Tax Effort |
- |
2.5 |
|
Total |
100 |
100 |
Sources: Report for the year 2020-21, 15th Finance Commission; PRS.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have received the largest devolutions for 2020-21, receiving Rs 1,53,342 crore, and Rs 86,039 crore respectively. Karnataka and Kerala saw the largest decreases in the share of the divisible pool with a decrease of 0.49% and 0.25% respectively. Table 2 below displays the state-wise breakdown of the share in the divisible pool and the total devolution.
Table 3: Share of states in the centre’s taxes
|
State |
14th Finance Commission |
15th Finance Commission |
Devolution for FY 2020-2021 |
||
|
Share out of 42% |
Share in divisible pool |
Share out of 41% |
Share in divisible pool |
(In Rs crore) |
|
|
Andhra Pradesh |
1.81 |
4.31 |
1.69 |
4.11 |
35,156 |
|
Arunachal Pradesh |
0.58 |
1.38 |
0.72 |
1.76 |
15,051 |
|
Assam |
1.39 |
3.31 |
1.28 |
3.13 |
26,776 |
|
Bihar |
4.06 |
9.67 |
4.13 |
10.06 |
86,039 |
|
Chhattisgarh |
1.29 |
3.07 |
1.4 |
3.42 |
29,230 |
|
Goa |
0.16 |
0.38 |
0.16 |
0.39 |
3,301 |
|
Gujarat |
1.3 |
3.1 |
1.39 |
3.4 |
29,059 |
|
Haryana |
0.46 |
1.1 |
0.44 |
1.08 |
9,253 |
|
Himachal Pradesh |
0.3 |
0.71 |
0.33 |
0.8 |
6,833 |
|
Jammu and Kashmir |
0.78 |
1.86 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Jharkhand |
1.32 |
3.14 |
1.36 |
3.31 |
28,332 |
|
Karnataka |
1.98 |
4.71 |
1.49 |
3.65 |
31,180 |
|
Kerala |
1.05 |
2.5 |
0.8 |
1.94 |
16,616 |
|
Madhya Pradesh |
3.17 |
7.55 |
3.23 |
7.89 |
67,439 |
|
Maharashtra |
2.32 |
5.52 |
2.52 |
6.14 |
52,465 |
|
Manipur |
0.26 |
0.62 |
0.29 |
0.72 |
6,140 |
|
Meghalaya |
0.27 |
0.64 |
0.31 |
0.77 |
6,542 |
|
Mizoram |
0.19 |
0.45 |
0.21 |
0.51 |
4,327 |
|
Nagaland |
0.21 |
0.5 |
0.23 |
0.57 |
4,900 |
|
Odisha |
1.95 |
4.64 |
1.9 |
4.63 |
39,586 |
|
Punjab |
0.66 |
1.57 |
0.73 |
1.79 |
15,291 |
|
Rajasthan |
2.31 |
5.5 |
2.45 |
5.98 |
51,131 |
|
Sikkim |
0.15 |
0.36 |
0.16 |
0.39 |
3,318 |
|
Tamil Nadu |
1.69 |
4.02 |
1.72 |
4.19 |
35,823 |
|
Telangana |
1.02 |
2.43 |
0.87 |
2.13 |
18,241 |
|
Tripura |
0.27 |
0.64 |
0.29 |
0.71 |
6,063 |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
7.54 |
17.95 |
7.35 |
17.93 |
1,53,342 |
|
Uttarakhand |
0.44 |
1.05 |
0.45 |
1.1 |
9,441 |
|
West Bengal |
3.08 |
7.33 |
3.08 |
7.52 |
64,301 |
|
Total |
42 |
100 |
41 |
100 |
8,55,176 |
Sources: Reports of 14th and 15th Finance Commission; PRS.
What are the various grants recommended by the 15th Finance Commission?
The Terms of Reference of the Finance Commission require it to recommend grants-in-aid to the States. These grants include: (i) revenue deficit grants, (ii) grants to local bodies, and (iii) disaster management grants.
14 states are estimated to face a revenue deficit post-devolution. To make up for this deficit, the Commission has recommended revenue deficit grants worth Rs 74,341 crore to these 14 states. Additionally, three states (Karnataka, Mizoram, and Telangana) have received special grants worth Rs 6,674 crore. The special grants are being given to compensate for a decline in the sum of tax devolution and revenue deficit grants in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20.
The Commission has recommended a total of Rs 90,000 crore for grants to the local bodies in 2020-21. This amounts to an increase over the Rs 87,352 crore allocated for 2019-20 for the same. The new allocation is 4.31% of the divisible pool. Of this sum, Rs 60,750 crore has been recommended for rural local bodies, and Rs 29,250 crore for urban local bodies. These grants will be made available to all three tiers of Panchayat- village, block, and district.
To promote local-level mitigation activities, the Commission has recommended the setting up of National and State Disaster Management Funds. Recommended grants for the State Disaster Risk Management Fund is Rs 28,983 crore, while the allocation for the National Disaster Risk Management Fund is Rs 12,390 crore.
Apart from these, guidelines for performance-based grants and sector-specific grants have been outlined. The Commission has recommended a grant of Rs 7,375 crore for nutrition in 2020-21. Sectors for which sector-specific grants will be provided in the final report include: (i) nutrition, (ii) health, (iii) pre-primary education, (iv) judiciary, and (v) railways.
For more details, please see our summary of the report.
Recently, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in Parliament. The Bill has been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for detailed examination, and the report is expected by the Budget Session, 2020. The Bill seeks to provide for protection of personal data of individuals, create a framework for processing such personal data, and establishes a Data Protection Authority for the purpose. In this blog, we provide a background to the 2019 Bill, and explain some of its key provisions.
What is personal data and data protection?
Data can be broadly classified into two types: personal and non-personal data. Personal data pertains to characteristics, traits or attributes of identity, which can be used to identify an individual. Non-personal data includes aggregated data through which individuals cannot be identified. For example, while an individual’s own location would constitute personal data; information derived from multiple drivers’ location, which is often used to analyse traffic flow, is non-personal data. Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
Why was a Bill brought for personal data protection?
In August 2017, the Supreme Court held that privacy is a fundamental right, flowing from the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Court also observed that privacy of personal data and facts is an essential aspect of the right to privacy. In July 2017, a Committee of Experts, chaired by Justice B. N. Srikrishna, was set up to examine various issues related to data protection in India. The Committee submitted its report, along with a Draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in July 2018. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 states that the Bill is based on the recommendations of the report of the Expert Committee and the suggestions received from various stakeholders.
How is personal data regulated currently?
Currently, the usage and transfer of personal data of citizens is regulated by the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2011, under the IT Act, 2000. The rules hold the companies using the data liable for compensating the individual, in case of any negligence in maintaining security standards while dealing with the data. The Expert Committee in its report, held that while the IT rules were a novel attempt at data protection at the time they were introduced, the pace of development of digital economy has shown its shortcomings.3 For instance, (i) the definition of sensitive personal data under the rules is narrow, and (ii) some of the provisions can be overridden by a contract. Further, the IT Act applies only to companies, not to the government.
What does the Personal Data Protection Bill provide?
The Bill regulates personal data related to individuals, and the processing, collection and storage of such data. Under the Bill, a data principal is an individual whose personal data is being processed. The entity or individual who decides the means and purposes of data processing is known as data fiduciary. The Bill governs the processing of personal data by both government and companies incorporated in India. It also governs foreign companies, if they deal with personal data of individuals in India.
Will individuals have rights over their data?
The Bill provides the data principal with certain rights with respect to their personal data. These include seeking confirmation on whether their personal data has been processed, seeking correction, completion or erasure of their data, seeking transfer of data to other fiduciaries, and restricting continuing disclosure of their personal data, if it is no longer necessary or if consent is withdrawn. Any processing of personal data can be done only on the basis of consent given by data principal.
Are there any restrictions on processing of an individual’s data?
The Bill also provides for certain obligations of data fiduciaries with respect to processing of personal data. Such processing should be subject to certain purpose, collection and storage limitations. For instance, personal data can be processed only for specific, clear and lawful purpose. Additionally, all data fiduciaries must undertake certain transparency and accountability measures such as implementing security safeguards and instituting grievance redressal mechanisms to address complaints of individuals. Certain fiduciaries would be notified as significant data fiduciaries (based on certain criteria such as volume of data processed and turnover of fiduciary). These fiduciaries must undertake additional accountability measures such as conducting a data protection impact assessment before conducting any processing of large scale sensitive personal data (includes financial data, biometric data, caste, religious or political beliefs).
What is the grievance redressal mechanism if the above restrictions are not followed?
To ensure compliance with the provisions of the Bill, and provide for further regulations with respect to processing of personal data of individuals, the Bill sets up a Data Protection Authority. The Authority will be comprised of members with expertise in fields such as data protection and information technology. Any individual, who is not satisfied with the grievance redressal by the data fiduciary can file a complaint to the Authority. Orders of the Authority can be appealed to an Appellate Tribunal. Appeals from the Tribunal will go to the Supreme Court.
Are there any exemptions to these safeguards for processing of personal data?
Processing of personal data is exempt from the provisions of the Bill in some cases. For example, the central government can exempt any of its agencies in the interest of security of state, public order, sovereignty and integrity of India, and friendly relations with foreign states. Processing of personal data is also exempted from provisions of the Bill for certain other purposes such as prevention, investigation, or prosecution of any offence, or research and journalistic purposes. Further, personal data of individuals can be processed without their consent in certain circumstances such as: (i) if required by the State for providing benefits to the individual, (ii) legal proceedings, (iii) to respond to a medical emergency.
Is the Bill different from the draft Bill suggested by the Expert Committee?
The Bill has made several changes from the draft Bill. For instance, the Bill has added a new class of significant data fiduciaries, as social media intermediaries. These will include intermediaries (with users above a notified threshold) which enable online interaction between users. Further, the Bill has expanded the scope of exemptions for the government, and additionally provided that the government may direct data fiduciaries to provide it with any non-personal or anonymised data for better targeting of services.
In a follow-up blog, we will provide a detailed comparison of the key provisions of this Bill with the Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018, released by the Justice B. N. Srikrishna Committee.
