Thomas Isaac has called for developing a national-level movement against the Centre’s bid to subvert local self-government institutions (LSGIs) and insulate it from such incursions. The standing committees in local bodies that ensured a representation of all parties was an example, he said. Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said he would give 9/10 marks for political decentralisation, but only 2/10 for administrative and 1/10 for fiscal devolution to local bodies. Local bodies should emerge as the first tier of democracy and become incubators of political leadership, he said. The share of local bodies from GST should be fixed, he said and warned against diversion of Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) funds.

Source: The Hindu April 24, 2018 13:18 UTC