View: 15th FC support for urban local governments must deliver better, by giving them more autonomy Synopsis Of Rs 4,36,361 crore grants recommended for local governments (LBs), Rs 8,000 crore are performance based incubation grants for 8 new cities and Rs 450 crore are for the establishment of municipal shared services centres. In view of the current pandemic, FC has provided Rs 70,051 crore to LBs to strengthen their primary healthcare system. Agencies The 15th FC has taken several progressive first steps to support the nature of urbanisation taking place in the country. The 15th Finance Commission (FC) Report for 2021-26 recognises urbanisation as an important engine of national economic growth and poverty reduction and emphasises the need for meeting the future challenges of spatial urban expansion into the metropolitan peripheries and in planned new cities. But it is also riddled with serious shortcomings that need to be highlighted.