West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly opposed the shifting of population base from 1971 to 2011 by 15th Finance Commission while making fresh recommendations. Banerjee is the first chief minister in the country who has taken up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a letter earlier this week.

In her letter, she argued that the population base shift will penalise those states, which have effectively implemented social and family welfare programmes in the last few years.

Banerjee pointed out that the state, as per calculation, would lose between Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 35,000 crore from 2020-2025 only, owing to use of 2011 census population. Southern states have also raised voices against the shift of population base.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has also said that the move, if considered, would affect the “interests of the South” and urged the states to “resist” it. As per even conservative estimate, Andhra Pradesh would lose Rs 24,340 crore, Tamil Nadu may lose Rs 22,497 crore. The figure for Kerala and Odisha would be Rs 20,285 crore and Rs 18,000 crore, respectively.

On the other hand, all the north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh — incidentally ruled by the NDA governments — would gain substantially. Sources said West Bengal has started talking to other aggrieved states on this issue.

Banerjee has written to the PM that she is getting worried as the 15th Finance Commission, soon after it has been set up, has started with a mandate of using the population data of 2011 while working on its recommendations.

“The Finance Commission has done this without consulting the states, which is against the spirit of federal structure of the nation,” Banerjee has written.

The Commission is a crucial constitutional setup which decides every five years the ratio in which Central tax revenue should be divided among different states. All the states and Union territories in India are collectively allocated 42% of the Central taxes collected each financial year. The remaining 58% is for the Centre to use for national purposes. But the ratio in which the 42% gets divided among different states is decided by the Commission.

Banerjee has argued that the loss would be even more crucial for Bengal because of its huge debt burden, a majority of which was inherited from the Left Front regime.