'Centre-state synergy important for system to be transparent': Sitharaman on road for reforms

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that for the system to become more transparent more things will have to be done to ensure that we work together with states, in an effort to continue on the road for reforms. In an exclusive interview to News 18 Editor-in Chief Rahul Joshi, Sitharaman said, “It’s one thing to work with Union government on those areas which are exclusively with the central government, but where there are overlaps…, there are some states that have come enthusiastically to say yes we should benefit also from this vibrancy which results after such measures are taken.” She said that when reforms are talked about, we normally always say three levels where it has to be carried out with same vigour - the central government, the state governments and the local bodies “Working with the state governments have already started happening in the last many years. You see a lot of areas where we have been working together. At the local body level - the municipal, the urban bodies, the panchayats - we need to have greater interchange of ideas and working together with them also. So that will also continue now,” said the Finance Minister. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday presented her sixth consecutive budget with a speech lasting 56 minutes, her shortest-ever. During her Budget speech, she said the government will take up next-generation reforms to facilitate growth and the next five years will be of unprecedented development and golden moments to realise the dream of developed India by 2047. States will get a Rs 75,000 crore boost in the form of interest-free loans to pursue reforms and the assistance will be linked to stipulated reform milestones, she added. She presented the Modi government’s achievements in the last 10 years that transformed India from being a ‘fragile’ economy to the world’s fastest-growing major economy. With inputs from agencies