CONFERENCE OF
CHIEF MINISTERS ON FISCAL ISSUES
OPENING REMARKS BY PRIME MINISTER
Following is the
text of the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s opening
remarks at the conference of Chief Ministers on fiscal issues,
here today:
"We have assembled here
for a conference with an important agenda – namely, to discuss
the problems affecting the finances of State Governments.
We meet often
in the regular meetings of the NDC and the Inter-State Council,
in which, among other things, we also discuss financial issues.
However, this is perhaps the first time that the Centre and States
are meeting outside these fora to discuss, specifically, the common
fiscal problems affecting all the States and to come up with an
agreed approach to remedy them in the true spirit of cooperative
federalism.
The fiscal health
of States has been a matter of much concern to all policy makers
for some time now. The fiscal deficit of the centre and states
together is unacceptably high. It has seriously affected our country’s
economic and social development. It has widened the gap between
people’s expectations and the system’s ability to fulfill them.
The Union Finance
Minister convened meetings of state Finance Ministers recently
to evolve a consensus on certain core decisions that must be collectively
taken to cure the fiscal health of States. We are meeting here
today to consider those decisions and adopt them as a National
Consensus.
I am happy that
the last couple of years have seen a steady convergence of views
between the Centre and the States on critical developmental issues.
We had useful conferences on power sector reforms and issues before
Indian agriculture in the context of the challenges and opportunities
presented by WTO. It is in the same spirit that we are meeting
today.
Before I conclude,
I must stress -- and I do so at the cost of repetition – that
unless we broaden the area of political consensus, and consensus
between the Centre and states, on critical developmental and governance
reforms, the problems that we currently face would get compounded.
I, therefore, appeal to you to help make today’s conference a
major milestone in our ongoing efforts at achieving better fiscal
discipline and thereby attaining higher growth rates."
