Citing the spirit of the “federal structure”, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked the Centre to “bear maximum” costs in the fight against Left Wing Extremism (LWE). He said the fight against Maoists was a “combined fight” of central and state governments, hence expenses should be shared in a manner that a state government does not have to bear additional burden. At the CMs’ conference chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, Nitish suggested that the Centre not discontinue the Special Infrastructure Scheme and allow states to “make amendments in criteria of process of execution” of special initiatives in areas that need the most government attention. The JDU leader also asked the Centre not to recall two CRPF battalions posted in Maoist-hit areas and meet the state’s long-pending demand of patrolling of such areas by choppers. In his 10-point suggestions to the Centre, Nitish said: “Under the country’s federal structure, the Centre cannot just play a supervisory or monitoring role by assigning states to take effective action against LWE organisations, which pose a challenge to internal security. The Centre does not need to just talk to states but also take meaningful steps.” Nitish suggested the Centre continue schemes like Special Infrastructure Scheme and increase the Centre’s share in police modernisation scheme. “Making states bear all expenses of central forces during their deputations is not fair,” he said. He said the Centre would often refer to states getting more funds after 14th Finance Commission recommendations whenever there was demand for extra funds to counter LWE. “But the fact remains that there has been a substantial dip in central grants to states.” Nitish wanted the Centre-state ratio of expenses for police modernisatiom scheme to be made 90:10 instead of 60:40. He said that while Bihar got Rs 40 crore grant annually under the scheme from 2000-01 to 2014-15, the state was getting Rs 30 crore annually now. About development schemes in LWE-hit areas, Nitish said, “There is need for special initiative. I would suggest the Centre allocate extra funds to take these schemes to the poorest in areas identified and state government be allowed to amend criteria and execution process as per needs of locals.” He suggested the Centre develop an institution system to study and analyse strategies and action against LWE.
