States that curb population may get sops: PM Narendra Modi

CHENNAI: PM Narendra Modi on Thursday sought to allay fears of the southern states, saying the Centre has suggested to the 15th Finance Commission to consider incentivising states that have worked on population control.

His remarks come in the backdrop of these states expressing concerns over “biased” terms of reference of the Finance Commission, especially the mandate to make recommendations using 2011 census data. Modi said the allegations were being made by “vested” interests and the Centre was committed to cooperative federalism.

The southern states that had made great strides in controlling the rate of population growth felt penalised by the Centre. The devolution of central funds is based on census 1971 until now.


“Let me turn for a while, to an issue that has been raised by certain vested interests over the last few days,” Modi began, dubbing the concerns raised over the terms of reference of the Finance Commission as baseless allegations. He said there was no bias against certain states or a particular region. “The government has suggested to consider incentivising states that have worked on population control. By this yardstick, a state like Tamil Nadu, which has devoted a lot of effort, energy and resources towards population control would certainly benefit. This was not the case earlier,” the PM said, leaving chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami with a smile. Palaniswami had written to the PM early this month raising concerns over the use of 2011 data as the base criteria.

Modi said the Centre was committed to cooperative federalism. “Our mantra is sabka saath, sabka vikas. Let us all work together to build a new India which would make our great freedom fighters proud,” he said.