South for temporary freeze on re-allocation of LS seats

NEW DELHI, Aug 19: Should states which do little to control population growth be `rewarded' with more seats in the Lok Sabha when the state...

NEW DELHI, Aug 19: Should states which do little to control population growth be `rewarded’ with more seats in the Lok Sabha when the state-wise composition of the House comes up for review after 2001 ?

Chief Ministers from the southern states will discuss this tomorrow at the first meeting in five years of the Southern Zonal Council in Thiruvananthapuram, to be presided over by Home Minister Indrajit Gupta.Fifteen inter-state issues are on the agenda, among them a proposal that the Council should formally seek a further 30-year freeze beyond the year 2001 on the number of seats in the Lok Sabha.

Since the number of seats a state has in the Lok Sabha is based on its population, the bigger states have more Members of Parliament. To take into account population changes, the Constitution allows re-adjustment in the allocation of seats after each 10-year census. But this exercise need not be carried out till the 2001 census.

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The Constitution says that the ratio between the number of seats and the population should be the same for all states, “as far as practicable”.Some, like the Andhra Pradesh Government, feel that the re-adjustment would penalise the states with a good record of population control since they would end up with lesser number of seats.In contrast, the states which have let their populations gallop will end up sending even more members to the House. The Andhra Pradesh Government has suggested that this would amount to “rewarding those states which have not made concerted efforts for population control.”Andhra Pradesh suggestion was discussed by the Standing Committee of the Southern Zonal Council. The Committee has now suggested that the Council recommend a further 30-year freeze on re-adjustment of seats, “in the interest of the success of population control programme”.

The Southern Zonal Council comprises Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry. They have generally recorded smaller population growths than those in the Hindi belt, like UP and Bihar.

The Thiruvananthapuram conference will be the 22nd meeting of the Southern Zonal Council set up under the States’ Reorganisation Act, but only the first since 1992. The Home Ministry feels that the meeting will help revive other zonal councils which too have not met for years.Apart from the seats issue, the Council will take up issues like the Southern Gas Grid Project, consignment tax, promotion of tea and coffee exports and relaxation of inter-state movement of foodgrains.

The Chief Ministers are also expected to take up a few inter-state disputes hampering hydro-electric power projects in the region.

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The states will also discuss banning fishing by mechanised boats during monsoon to conserve marine wealth. Environmental problems caused by large-scale use of ground water will also be discussed at the meeting.