Articles by V Bhaskar

The present arrangements for financing disaster management in the country do not provide for disaster mitigation. They are neither comprehensive nor adequate. There is a dichotomy between the guidelines issued by the Government of India on disaster management and the mandate of the Disaster Management Act. A national consensus is required on how to fund all the three components of disaster management–mitigation, response, and reconstruction. Other issues to be addressed include the scope of disaster management, the creation of mitigation funds, the financing of such funds, the procedure for states to draw from these funds and accepting foreign aid for disaster relief. This article examines these and related issues. It may not be desirable to complicate the GST structure by levying a cess on either state GST or central GST or integrated GST for funding disaster management. The option of increasing the yield of the present national calamity contingency duty or introducing a cess similar to the GST compensation cess may be preferable.

This article argues that the Election Commission of India should proactively implement electoral reforms aimed at improving transparency in electoral funding and ensuring that political parties do not misuse the tax benefits provided to them. It is adequately empowered to bring political parties under the ambit of the Right to Information Act and order full disclosure of all donations received by them. No additional legislation is required.

The Fourteenth Finance Commission is to be commended for bringing states to the forefront of the development paradigm. The award is transformational but the fall in progressivity is of concern. There is a divergence in the growth projections between the FFC and the central and state governments. This underlines the need to implement quickly the recommendations to put in place an institutional framework for ex ante and ex post validation of both central and state budgets.

Including immovable property transactions in the tax base of the proposed Goods and Services Tax will curb the generation of black money while improving tax buoyancy. A model for such inclusion is proposed here. GST could be applied at a concessional rate after providing for suitable exemptions for sale and lease of domestic housing units.

This article poses four questions which will need to be addressed by the recently-constituted Fourteenth Finance Commission. Given an expansive terms of reference, should the commission confi ne itself to its constitutional mandate? Second, should the commission seek to develop incentive frameworks which will carry credibility with future commissions? Third, should the commission encourage better fiscal performance in the states more explicitly? Fourth, should the commission provide fiscal headroom in its projections for accommodating unanticipated developments?