The Sikkim Government has proposed increasing the divisible pool allocation for population and area from the current 15% under the 15th Finance Commission to 20% in the upcoming 16th Finance Commission. Dr Arvind Panagariya, the Chairman, highlighted during the press conference that Sikkim has introduced two innovative criteria: Forest Cover Criteria and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are aimed at boosting the state’s share in the divisible pool from 0.388% to 0.72%, effectively dou