6. Over the past decades, the actual working of these constitutional provisions have generated considerable debate. Successive Finance Commissions have made efforts to address the emerging issues and challenges, but in a vibrant democracy like India the debate goes on. Geopolitical risks have necessitated higher expenditure on defence and internal security. Natural calamities and disasters have called for higher expenditure on relief and rehabilitation.
In parallel, aspirations of the people and the country as a whole have required that the government spends more on developmental programmes. 7. The interplay between such developments in the real economy and certain features embedded in our constitution have thrown up issues which need to be addressed. I would like to highlight some of these issues.