Railway
The Chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission was:
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Answer: Option B — Dr. Y.V. Reddy
Detailed Solution
Y.V. Reddy. The Fourteenth Finance Commission was set up in January 2013 under the chairmanship of Dr. Y.V. Reddy, a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. It covered the period from 2015 to 2020.
About Dr. Y.V. Reddy:
- Yaga Venugopal Reddy was Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2003 to 2008.
- He was praised for his cautious policies, which helped protect Indian banks during the global financial crisis of 2008.
- He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2010.
Main recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission:
The share of states in the divisible pool of central taxes was raised to 42 per cent, from 32 per cent earlier. This was the largest increase recommended by any Finance Commission.
It recommended grants to local bodies, both panchayats and municipalities, to improve basic services.
It recommended revenue deficit grants for states that would still have deficits after tax devolution.
It used new criteria for distribution among states, including forest cover, in addition to population, area and income distance.
It recommended doing away with the distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure.
Effects of its recommendations:
- States got more untied funds, which gave them more freedom to spend according to their own priorities.
- At the same time, some centrally sponsored schemes were restructured, and central funding for some programmes was reduced.
- The higher devolution was seen as a major step towards cooperative federalism.
Special category status:
The Commission did not make a distinction between special and general category states in tax devolution, which led to debates about special category status.
Other Finance Commissions:
Twelfth: Dr. C. Rangarajan.
Thirteenth: Dr. Vijay Kelkar.
Fifteenth: N.K. Singh.
Role of the Finance Commission:
It recommends how central taxes are shared with the states and how grants are given.
Why not the other options?
Dr. Vijay Kelkar chaired the Thirteenth.
Dr. C. Rangarajan chaired the Twelfth.
N.K. Singh chaired the Fifteenth.
Quick tip
Remember: 14th Finance Commission = Y.V. Reddy, raised states' share to 42 per cent.
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Constitutional & Statutory Bodies — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Constitutional & Statutory Bodies, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers bodies set up under the Constitution, such as the Election Commission, UPSC, Finance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General and the national commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and statutory or executive bodies such as NITI Aayog, the NHRC, the CVC, the CBI and Lokpal. Questions often ask whether a body is constitutional or not, which article creates it, who appoints its head and for how long. For example, the CAG is appointed under Article 148, the Finance Commission under Article 280, and NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission in 2015 by an executive resolution. Practise the constitutional and statutory bodies questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.