Distribution of power between Center, States and lower levels of government bodies.
It is a complex matter.
Giving the states too much power like USA is unacceptable. Afterall, child marriage and other regressive laws were pretty prevalent in my last life in USA.
Education should be governed by the center as well, with an extra book for language, history and geography of the state itself on the side under state government.
CBSE was bad. But most of the state boards were way worse. And let's not even talk about the colleges who followed state universities.
This will even save money and make things more efficient. Atleast the sciences needs to be standard across the country.
Police under state government?
...Nah. UP, Bihar, and especially West Bengal are examples why it isn't good.
In fact, police should be more independent from both Center and state. But then there comes the possibility of it becoming dictatorial, obselette and utterly corrupt like the judiciary.
Police should be independent, but should follow WRITTEN orders of the state governments, and central government. Well, aside from the basic code of conduct that they automatically have to follow so that they don't have to ask for permission for little things or big things like stopping riots.
A corruption bureau will ensure that no corruption is there.
Police should be like an organised body with sufficient independence like the military.
Hmm, then comes the budget.
In my previous world, before GST, the tax system differences between the states made it difficult for businesses. But after GST, the good states suffered too. For example, Maharashtra received little to no reward for being the best state economically and Bihar got a lot as a reward for 0 development.
I think a better system will be 50:50.
Like, let's say Maharashtra contributes to 100 Rupay in taxes which is collected by central government. 50 Rupay will go back to Maharashtra, and the rest of the 50 Rupay will be upto center to decide. Give more money to Bihar, let's say 10 Rupay from Maharashtra's tax money. And spend the rest of the 40 for defence, railway stations, airports, national highways, central universities, sea ports, etc.
Center will collect Income Tax, Corporate Tax, Indirect Taxes on Goods and Services.
States will collect Property Tax, Fuel Tax and other things like electricity bill, water bill, registration charges, etc.
In my past life, one of the main source of revenue for most states was alcohol. But I don't want any alcohol production aside from medical purposes. I mean, why allow harmful drugs for the person using them, and the society around them?
Since agriculture will still be taxed just like any other business, they should be able to get their revenue through income tax.
Then comes the local bodies, like municipal bodies and panchayat.
They weren't really effective. Bengaluru, Mumbai... sigh...
And Panchayat wasn't good either.
The problem wasn't just finding. Even if they had better funding, the result would probably still the same.
The main problem is corruption.
First of all, the election candidates for the local bodies must not be from any political party.
In West Bengal, the panchayats were used to force people to vote for the ruling party. These shouldn't be allowed to happen.
So, with local bodies reserved for independent individuals will mean more competition. So people will have more options.
Central government itself will allocate funds for the SuperCities' municipal corporations. The states will allocate funds for the rest.
Still, corruption will remain a major problem in all levels of governments.
Even if I make a corruption bureau to keep it in check, what is the guarantee that it wouldn't become corrupt itself?
...What exactly did countries like Japan and Singapore do?
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