Articles by S Guhan

The current regimen of centre-state fiscal transfers has evolved in a piecemeal fashion and inevitably lacks any rational design or direction. By the same token, the transition to a simple, transparent and rational system cannot take place in one move, but will have to be comprehensively visualised and implemented in a phased manner.

Report of Tenth Finance Commission S Guhan In the sequence of Finance Commission Reports, the Tenth Finance Commission's is among the outstanding ones. The commission has had to carry out its remit in a particularly difficult fiscal situation. Its projections of resources and requirements may not turn out to be realistic, hut they set fair and reasonable goals. The commission has been stingy in respect of vertical shares and debt relief but in the current fiscal context this is not unforgivable. The adoption of an identical formula, predominantly based on population and the distance criterion, is a reform that is sound and progressive in its economic logic. The grants to local bodies, the establishment of a National Fund for Calamity Relief and the chapter on defence expenditure are noteworthy initiatives. The 'Alternative Scheme' suggested by the commission, though flawed and inadequate in its present form, may prove to be an important contribution if it stimulates thought and action on a rational restructuring of federal fiscal transfers.

The Blotted Copybook S Guhan My Presidential Years by R Venkataraman; Harper Collins Publishers India, New
R VENKATARAMAN's 654 page account of his five years (1987-92) as India's eighth president makes heavy demands on the reader's time, patience and stamina. Its length alone is not a major deterrent for the discriminating reader can quickly traverse large parts of the book devoted to the author's numerous foreign and internal tours; his nonsubstantive discussions with foreign and domestic dignitaries; the grandeur of Rashtrapathi Bhawan's halls, gardens and artefacts; investitures, banquets and functions; and the outpourings of official wisdom on occasions such as the opening of parliament sessions, governors' conferences, R-days and I-days. RV himself has the consideration to say, in the prologue, that excerpts from his speeches on various occasions "may make tiresome reading and may be skipped without much loss". This helpful advice applies to much else in the book.

Comprehending Equalities S Guhan Competing Equalities: Law and the Backward Classes in India by Marc Galanter; Oxford University Press (paperback), 1991; pp xxviii + 625, Rs 95.

Hard-Headed or Soft-Headed?
S Guhan The Economic Survey urged a "serious effort to introduce corrective measures through hard decisions and difficult choices". The budget's response to this call, the fudging apart, is feeble. And given the compulsion to contain the fiscal deficit to 6.5 per cent of GDP, incremental investment in infrastructure is likely to be seriously reduced in real terms in the coming year, retarding both growth and adjustment in the medium term.