The GST bill has been presented in Lok Sabha today and our Prime Minister ‘Mr. Narendra Singh Modi’ has also given his views on it. He started his speech by addressing the relevance and history of date “08 Aug” as on 08 Aug, 1942 resolution of “Britishers Quit India” was passed by the erstwhile ruling party and our father of nation “Gandhi ji”.
Further, he said that passing of GST is not a win for a particular party but a collective effort of earlier and existing parties. According to him, GST means:
Great Step by Team India;
Great Step Towards Transformation;
Great Step Towards Transparency;
He further added that rather than debating whether opposition has initiated the initial step towards GST (birth) and the same was passed under current ruling party, or whether it is a victory or defeat for one or other, it’s better to look it as a step towards the benefit of nation and not for any political party.
The Congress had pointed out that Mr. Modi, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, had vehemently opposed the reform. Mr. Modi said today that he had unanswered questions then that have been resolved now through both a better understanding of the proposal as well as the changes made to the reform based on the feedback from different parties and states.
Further, he also added that in order to make the nation grow, we have to focus on 5 major things:
- Men
- Machine
- Material
- Money
- Methods /Management
In the end, our PM thanked all parties for their cooperation in enabling what has been described as his biggest victory since election. The GST replaces a patchwork of central and state levies with a national tax, making trade easier and unifying India into a common marketplace.
Further, our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the GST, when implemented, could add up to two percentage points to economic growth. He also addresses the question and issues on implementation of GST.
Mr Jaitley has said that he remains committed to introducing the GST on April 1, a deadline that requires non-stop action. Because the constitution is being amended to give the government new taxation powers, more than half of India’s 29 states must approve of the change. The Finance Minister wants to accomplish that within a month. After that, a GST Council will be formed with Mr Jaitley and representatives of all state governments. Together, they must decide on the recommended rate of tax -as well as its scope. Then, the parliament must sign off on separate legislation clearing the GST rate and how it is to be applied.
In the end, Hon’ble Speaker “Sumitra Mahajan” put into motion that whether the amendment done in Rajya Sabha in respect of GST shall be passed or not and fortunately it has been passed by majority of the house with 429 yes.
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