In this interview, Professor Deepanshu Mohan, Dean, OP Jindal Global University, describes the process by which the states that make up the Union of India are allocated funds from the Consolidated Fund of India, through a process managed by the Finance Commission of India, which gives the government recommendations on the criteria for devolving funds to states. The process of economic and social development across the country is contingent on these criteria. The process is never too far away from politics, he says. And the decisions of the government are slowly breaking apart the glue that held together the states and the Union in a bond of mutual support – and it is the loss of faith of the states in the Union government, brought about by how it has been allocating resources.