Stronger Federal-State Cooperation on National Issues

In the meeting of chief ministers on the issues of price rise and internal security, we saw a changed form of relations between the central and state governments. We felt that things have moved forward beyond just completing the formality. After a long time, there was discussion in this meeting on ground realities, rather than rhetorical speeches.
There were heated debates, host of allegations, but there was also an attempt to understand and appreciate each other. All in all, this meet helped develop mutual understanding. When the discussion started on price hike on 6 February, non-Congress chief ministers strongly especially criticized the central government.

Skyrocketing Price Hike
It was everybody's opinion that the central government should stop blaming states for skyrocketing price hike. There was a sharp exchange between Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on this issue. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also emphasized that price rise is a national problem, and only the central government should deal with it. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank went to the extent of saying that the current price rise has been created artificially.
However, during the discussion on internal security, some non-Congress chief ministers openly praised the positive steps taken by the federal government the next day. For example, although Narendra Modi was angry with the central government for not approving the Gujarat Control of Organized Crime Act, he still profusely praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram, admitting that in the matter of internal security, the central government is not discriminating against non-Congress states, and its attitude is quite cooperative in the matter of dealing with terrorism.

Underlined Internal Security
Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also praised Chidambaram's style of functioning, and the efforts being made by him on the internal security front. It is obvious that these leaders have refrained from the normal tendency of attacking the federal government with closed eyes. Similarly, the central government also gave up the habit of foisting its own agenda and singing its own tune to send a positive signal. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh especially underlined that internal security could be strengthened only through mutual coordination between the central and state governments. Not only security, coordination is also necessary to ensure economic development. A lot of emphasis was placed on it for a few years after independence, but later, as politics became personality-centric, the federal attitude also changed. The governments ruling in New Delhi usually behaved with the state governments in accordance with political considerations of gains and losses.
States certainly require additional resources for strengthening their internal security system. They are also quite right in expecting the union government to provide them with weapons, equipment, and money with an open mind. Yet, they fail to realize that they must also carry out certain responsibilities. These have been pending for long. States have been repeatedly reminded of them during this period, but things soon went back to square one. It is, therefore, necessary to study some of the facts placed on behalf of union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in order to understand this situation.

Requiring Extreme Political Will
According to these facts, 22 states have not carried out the Supreme Court directives on formulating new police laws. There are 19 such states that have not been able to form a Police Complaint Authority so far.
A handful of states have perhaps separated law and order from the investigation work. It is a task requiring extreme political will instead of huge funds. This is being avoided at present. If this has not been impelled by the tendency to make political use of the police, let state governments frankly admit why they have not followed the Supreme Court's order.

Implementing Police Reforms
Whenever the union government gives some suggestions or orders on internal security to states, they raise complaints about interference in their work. They also never tire of reminding the central government that in a federal system, law and order is a state subject. Irrespective of their claims, the fact remains that they have been most negligent about implementing police reforms and strengthening internal security. State governments are very much concerned about their own rights. But they dislike being reminded of their own duties.
The people have had to pay the price for this. The imbalance that is being seen at the level of development today is the result of that. Anyway, there is need to forget the past. Now, New Delhi should listen to states patiently, rising above political differences, because they are the ones who are suffering from problems at the base level. No national policy can be implemented without cooperation from them. The understanding that has been developed between these two now should be strengthened further.