Chennai: Earlier this year, Delhi witnessed some unusual protests. On 7 February, the entire Karnataka state cabinet, led by chief minister Siddaramaiah, landed up at Jantar Mantar, a popular protest square in the capital city, raising objections to what they said was the central government’s “biased fiscal policy". The next day, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan protested at the same venue and for the same reason. A short distance away, members of Parliament from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, held a ‘black shirt’ demonstration for non-allocation of funds to the state.

       The problem? Fiscal devolution. That’s a process by which taxes raised by the central government are shared with the states.

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