Finance Secretary Ratan Watal today said that the NDA government has given more fiscal and legislative space to states and is fully committed to the principle of cooperative federalism. <br/><br/>Speaking in an interview for the official Youtube Channel of the Ministry of Finance in run-up to the Union Budget 2016-17, Mr Watal said, So far this fiscal, over 78 per cent of Budget Estimates has been released to states by way of tax devolution and three more installments will be released in March 2016 based on the tax collections.<br/><br/>Mr Watal said, in Budget 2015-16, the Finance Ministry had made a provision of 5.24 lakh crore rupees under devolution of taxes to States as compared to the allocation of 3.38 lakh crore rupees in last financial year.<br/><br/>In reply to another question about the individual scheme allocations, Finance Secretary said that it is not a correct perception that these are not in line with the scheme of devolution. <br/><br/>He said that the States demanded that the Centrally Sponsored Schemes were straight jacketed and that they should have more freedom and fiscal space. Mr Watal said, presently, more untied grants are being given to the States. He added, the Finance Commission brought about a compositional shift allowing States to set-up their own priorities.