Further to Nationalisation

August 30, 1969 a satisfactory measure of 'need' and so population has been used as the rough and ready criterion. The weightage attached to population has varied according to the whoms of individual Commissions. The Second Finance Commission fixed it at 90 per cent but its successor reduced it to 80 per cent at which level it was retained by the Fourth Commission. The present Commission has, however, made a departure from the past in recommending the inclusion of advance tax collected by the Centre in the net shareable income tax pool. This will enlarge the size of the divisible pool. In respect of Union excise duties (basic duties) the present Commission has kept the shareable portion at 20 per cent as recommended by the Fourth Commission. However, it recommends that two-thirds of the shareable portion be distributed among States having a per capita income lower than the all-India average, the remaining one- third being distributed on the basis of regional backwardness. Here the lack of comparable and acceptable estimates of State per capita incomes is likely to present a serious administrative problem. Further, for the last two years of the five-year period, specal excise duties are to be included in the d visible pool. Why only in the last two years?