Unprecedented Parliamentary consensus to speed up Reform Express 352 votes against 37,Constitution Amendment Bill to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) passed GST implemented,DTC has to be implemented sooner or later.

Unprecedented Parliamentary consensus to speed up Reform Express

352 votes against 37,Constitution Amendment Bill to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) passed

GST implemented,DTC has to be implemented sooner or later. 

Palash Biswas

GST implemented,DTC has to be implemented sooner or later. Biggest tax reform in decades.However,it's a Bill the previous government pushed hard in the Parliament without much success, but could well see the light of the day under the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, albeit in a diluted form.

Salaman Khan captured national attention and Convicted Salman reaches home, won't go to jail till May 8.Salman Khan was convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the 2002 hit-and-run case with all charges proved against him. Significantly, the court held that Salman was driving under the influence of alcohol. As the court delivered the verdict, Salman had tears in his eyes. 

The long-pending GST Bill was approved by Lok Sabha on Wednesday after a walkout by Congress even as government vowed to compensate states for any revenue loss and assured that the new uniform indirect tax rate will be much less than 27 per cent recommended by an expert panel.

As it has been the tradition in all these years of neoliberal childrens` hegemonial regime,this or that incident overlapping the process of legislation,RSS Siblings ie BJP and Congress managed to pass GST bill which has to be endorsed by Rajyasabha.Every law is amended in similar way to accomplish the reform agenda of ethnic cleanising.But the media just continued to focus on Salman to deprive the citizens the opportunity to witness the merger of different colors and ideologies in the Parliament which activates the Money Making Guillotine thirsty of every Indian drop of blood.

Amusing it might sound,Congress supports the measure, but it boycotted the vote in the lower house, demanding the bill be first reviewed by a parliamentary panel.Further complicating matters are the competing interests of the central and state governments, which want to protect their tax revenue and retain fiscal control. The bill also needs the approval of more than a half of India's 29 states.

The battle has already led to several compromises on the bill, leading some analysts to say India could end up being saddled with a badly designed tax.Exemptions and exceptions have also been worked into the bill. The tax does not apply to alcohol, for example, and petroleum products will be taxed separately at first. Manufacturing states will be allowed to levy an additional tax of 1 percent on supply of goods.

GST, which is proposed to be implemented from April 1, 2016, will subsume excise, service tax, state VAT, entry tax,octroi and other state levies.

Thus,the Constitution Amendment Bill to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST), originally mooted by the UPA, was passed by 352 votes against 37 after the government rejected the opposition demand of referring it to Standing Committee.Approval in the Lok Sabha marks an important victory for Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the bill still must pass in the Rajya Sabha. The opposition, including the Congress party, is stronger there.But as it proved to be rather a cake walk with Congress support,it would not be a hurdle whatsoever.

The Land Acquisition Bill dispute seems to be an excellent game changer which proved to be an umbrella for all sorts of reform legislation.

However,Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House at the time of voting.Corporate  lawyer Arun Jaitley managed the show.

Opposition members moved several amendments to the bill which were negated. Some members like Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress and B Mahtab did not move some of the amendments after assurances by the Finance Minister.

Replying to the debate on the bill before Congress walked out, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the proposal to reform the indirect taxes has been pending for the last 12 years and his predecessor P Chidambaram had also mooted it during UPA rule.

On Tuesday, the lower house discussed the Constitution Amendment Bill for the enactment of the goods and services tax (GST) Act amidst stiff opposition and demand for it to be referred back to the Standing Committee for a deliberation on changes made to it after the lapse of its 2011 version.

And even as the avalanche of criticism from AIDMK, BJD, TRS, CPI(M), YSRCP and others threatened to derail it, the support assured by opposition Congress could see the Bill, which will bring about a unified indirect tax regime across states, go through today when it comes up for voting.

Rejecting the Opposition demand for referring the Bill to the Standing Committee, he said the panel has alreadyexamined various provisions of the new legislation and several of its suggestions have been incorporated.

"A bill is not a dancing instrument that it will be jumping from Standing Committee to Standing Committee," he said.

Commending the bill, he said this is a "very important moment" because the whole process of indirect taxation in India will change once the GST is implemented.

With regard to a recommendation of an expert panel for revenue-neutral GST rate of 27 per cent, Jaitley said it is

"too high" and will be "much diluted".

He said GST would ensure seamless and uniform indirect tax regime besides lowering inflation and promoting growth in the long run as he sought to allay concerns of the states that they would be hurt by its implementation.

Earlier,the Lok Sabha took up the long-delayed Goods and Services Tax Bill for consideration on Tuesday after the Speaker rejected the Opposition's demand to refer the key reform measure to a Parliamentary Standing Committee.

Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, who was in the Chair, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recommended against referring the Bill to the standing committee, which was accepted.

In the procedural wrangle the lasted over an hour-and-a-half, the Opposition insisted on referring the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill to the Standing Committee on Finance, reasoning that it was a different Bill than the one drawn up by the previous UPA regime.

Congress, BJD, AIADMK and CPI (M) slammed the government for what they called "bypassing" the Standing Committees by refusing to refer several bills to them.

Jaitley, however, countered this by saying that referring the Bill to a panel will delay the Bill by another year, robbing states from reaping its benefits. He argued that the Standing Committee has already deliberated on the new tax regime for the past two-and-a-half years and there was a broad consensus on the Bill in the empowered committee of state Finance Ministers. The government aims at enforcing the new tax regime from the next fiscal.

He said all Congress-ruled states have supported the Bill, which, he said would benefit the TMC -ruled West Bengal and BJD-ruled Odisha most.

He appealed to the opposition parties to "rise above partisan" considerations, saying:  "No purpose will be served by delaying the passage of the crucial bill as it will be the states that will suffer financially".

Jaitley said the government proposed three more Bills on the powers of the Centre and the states. GST Bill is a Constitution Amendment Bill that requires the ratification of at least 50 per cent of the state legislatures.

B Mahtab of the BJD had raised the issue of referring the Bill to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, stating it was required because it was an entirely new Bill and citing the example of the Company Laws Amendment Bill, which was sent to the Parliamentary panel twice. Referring to fear of delaying the implementation of the new tax regime, Mahtab suggested that the standing committee could be told to submit its report by first week of July to enable the Parliament to clear the Bill in the Monsoon session.