‘Reforms now need states’ involvement’

Even as the UPA government is facing wide criticism from various corners on the slow pace of reforms,the former chairman of the Finance Commission Vijay Kelkar on Wednesday said that the current phase of reforms were difficult as they needed the involvement of the states.

Citing the Goods and Services Tax supposed to be implemented in April 2010 and has been deferred for the last two years,Kelkar said “GST,which is my sort of Lakh dukhonki ek dava hai,has largely been accepted but not yet implemented because states have to be involved. Many problems are now coming in because the domain of trade has shifted from the Union to state subject.”

Kelkar was speaking at an interaction with reporters at the Idea Exchange organised by Loksatta,the Marathi daily published by The Indian Express group.

“Then (earlier reforms) was about imports and exports,largely the domain of the Cente… now it is shifting to the state domain which means that you require much more effort to create consensus,” Kelkar said and conceded that the fears expressed by states on GST were genuine and they would need to be satisfied.