He also said that the government should continue its data-driven policy making in order to move along its development trajectory.
The government should build a data portal for data collected by the finance commission to bring “continuity”, said Arvind Panagariya, chairman, 16th Finance Commission, at an event on Saturday.
While speaking the 18th Statistics Day event, Panagariya said that “someone (government agency) needs to take the lead to create the data portal on a permanent basis for the finance commission, so that work can be smoothened out in the future”.
He mentioned that since each finance commission has to start gathering data afresh, a portal will resolve the issue. The 16th Finance Commission was constituted in December 2023, and its members were appointed by January of this year.
The 16th Finance Commission — a constitutional body that gives suggestions on Centre-state financial relations — will submit its report for the five-year period (2026-27 to 2030-31) to the President by October 31, 2025.
As per its terms of reference, the body, besides suggesting tax devolution between the Centre and states and revenue augmentation measures, would review the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The 15th Finance Commission, under NK Singh, had recommended that states be given 41% of the divisible tax pool of the Centre during the five-year period 2021 22 to 2025 26.
Meanwhile, at the event, Panagariya highlighted that among developing countries, India remains unique in having reliable estimates of GDP and other indicators.
He also said that the government should continue its data-driven policy making in order to move along its development trajectory.
On Saturday, the statistics ministry launched “e-sankhyiki” portal, a central data repository, which aims to establish a comprehensive data management and sharing system for ease of dissemination of official statistics in the country.
Source:financialexpress.com