NEW DELHI : The country witnessed the biggest ever tax reforms in the history with the launch of the Goods and Services Tax, GST at a gala event last midnight. The new tax regime replacing more than a dozen state and central levies came into effect the moment President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressed the launch button in the Central hall of the Parliament. President Pranab Mukherjee in his speech before the launch said it is a momentous occasion for all in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM said that the day marks a decisive turning point, in determining the future course of the country. 

He recalled that the Central Hall had been witness to several historic occasions in the past as well, including the first session of the Constituent Assembly, India’s independence, and the adoption of the Constitution. He described GST is an example of Cooperative Federalism. 

He quoted Chanakya to say that hard work can overcome all obstacles and help us accomplish even the most difficult of objectives. He said that just as Sardar Patel had ensured political integration of the country, GST would ensure economic integration. Recalling the famous scientist Albert Einstein who said that income tax is the most difficult thing to understand in the world, he said that GST would ensure one nation, one tax. He said that GST would lead to immense savings of time and cost. Savings of fuel due to elimination of delays at State border crossings will help the environment as well, he added. The Prime Minister said GST would lead to a modern tax administration which is simpler, more transparent, and helps curb corruption. 

He described GST as a “Good and Simple Tax” which would ultimately benefit the people. The Prime Minister also quoted a shloka from the Rig Veda to describe the spirit of common goal, common determination, leading to mutual and shared benefit for the society.

Vice President Mohd. Hamid Ansari, Former Prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, BJP Party President Amit Shah and a host of political leaders cutting across party lines and senior ministers and bureaucrats from different states witnessed the formal launch of indirect tax regime. Top Industry leaders, economists and celebrities were also present to witness the launch of landmark GST at the historic Central Hall of Parliament which opened for a midnight ceremony for the first time in two decades.

Even as the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat believes the situation will return to normal in the Valley soon, it has never been as bid as this in the last two decades. 

Nevertheless, he had no doubt whatsoever that people will get to experience normal life soon. “They are our people…we know what is hurting them and how to swab their wounds inflicted by violence,” the General added. At the same time the Valley has sunk to such depths that last Thursday on June 22 during the night of prayers in the holy fasting month of Ramzan, it was brutalisation of the worst kind. 

The victim was Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammad Yusuf Pandith from the security wing of the state police supervising security arrangements at the grand mosque from where the chief cleric Mirwaiz Umer Farooq delivers his sermons. 

The officers and men from his wing do not wear the uniform. What is unfortunate is that soon after being lynched he was being given the tag of being a non-Muslim from the intelligence unit. The gambit of the terrorists was to pass off such barbarism against non-Muslims as acceptable. 

The Kashmiri seems to be badly shaken. The lynching is not only a blot on Kashmiri society that prides itself on human values of following the path of peace and love in keeping with Islamalic scriptures. 

Targeting policemen is a well known strategy but the people joining the lynching of a cop on one of the holiest days of the Islamic calendar is a pointer to how far the dehumanisation of Kashmir has proceeded. It is time that all the conscience keepers of Kashmir, particularly the separatist leaders and clerics among them, stem this rot threatening to tear apart the already overstrained social culture of tolerance. 

“The line between humanity and bestiality has been blurred. The man who was protecting them was lynched,” observed state DGP SP Vaid. J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti regretted what can be more shameful. “J&K police are one of the best in the country. They are brave and showing maximum restraint. The day their patience wanes, I believe things will be difficult,” she cautioned. 

Pandith was killed when he opened fire in self defence. It brings to the fore the intolerance that characterises the scene in Srinagar. Barely a week ago six policemen were butchered by terrorists who ambushed them. 

One fails to understand why the enemies of the state like the Mirwaiz are provided a battery of bodyguards at public expense when the role they play is of traitors. The protection given to them must be withdrawn so that they are left to fend for themselves. 

It is difficult to understand why the central and state governments have been pandering to anti-national elements by offering them all kinds of allurements. By giving them the status of being mass leaders which they are not, the authorities are only lending respectability to the nefarious activities of these men. 

The killers of Pandit must be brought to book. The perceived alienation echoes in villages where mothers mourn and sons find a rebel within for a cause they are not sure about. The Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama axis is turning out to be the new hotspot of home grown militancy. 

The Centre’s security centric approach coupled with its policy of a bullet for a bullet has failed in J&K. This is also on account of the pull of radical Islam from outside adding a new dimension to the protracted problem. 

Lack of leadership in the sensitive border state has compounded matters. The other unthinkable aspect for the Kashmiris is the coalition government of the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP and the BJP overseeing the sensitive border state in a coalition arrangement.  

The imperative need is to restart the dialogue process with all the stakeholders to end the continuing turmoil going out of hand.

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator)

Goods and Services Tax (GST), a historic tax reform, will come into effect from tomorrow i.e.1^st July, 2017. GST will completely transform the Indirect Taxation landscape in the country involving both the Central and State levies. 

Why is GST so important?

The biggest tax reform since independence – GST – will pave the way for realization of the goal of One Nation – One Tax – One Market. GST will benefit all the stakeholders namely industry, government and consumer. It will lower the cost of goods and services, give a boost to the economy and make the products and services globally competitive, giving a major boost to ‘Make in India’ initiative. Under the GST regime, exports will be zero-rated in entirety unlike the present system where refund of some of the taxes does not take place due to fragmented nature of indirect taxes between the Centre and the States. GST will make India a common market with common tax rates & procedures and remove economic barriers. GST is largely technology driven and will reduce the human interface to a great extent. GST is expected to improve ease of doing business in India.

In majority of supplies of goods, the tax incidence approved by the GST Council is much lower than the present combined indirect tax rates levied [on account of central excise duty rates / embedded central excise duty rates / service tax post-clearance embedding, VAT rates or weighted average VAT rates, cascading of VAT over excise duty and tax incidence on account of CST, Octroi, Entry Tax, etc.] by the Centre and State(s). 

Journey of GST after the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016

After the assent of the President on 8^th September, 2016, the 101^th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016 came into existence. The GST Council was constituted on 15.9.2016.

Since its formation in September, 2016 the GST Council has held 18 meetings. The Finance Ministers of all the States or their representative along with State and Central govt officials have participated in these extensive meetings and formulated the law and procedure to implement this historic tax reform. It was a mammoth task involving 27000+ man hours of intensive work. More than 200 meetings of the officers of the Centre and States took place in different parts of the country to expedite the implementation of GST.

While framing GST Acts and Rules, enhanced ‘Ease of doing business’ for the taxpayers was a key consideration and accordingly the roles and responsibilities of the States and Central govt have been defined. In a short span of time, the GST council has cleared GST laws, GST Rules, Tax rate structure including Compensation Cess, Classification of goods and services into different rate slabs, exemptions, thresholds, structure for tax administration, etc. All the decisions of Council were taken with consensus. While formulating the Acts and Rules, extensive participatory consultations with trade and industry including other significant stakeholders were undertaken. Feedback was also obtained by posting draft Acts and Rules on the websites and inviting comments from the public.

On 29^th March, 2017, the Finance Minister of India tabled four Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha namely The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Bill, 2017, The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Bill, 2017, The Union Territories Goods and Services Tax (UTGST) Bill, 2017 and the GST (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017. They were passed by the Lok Sabha on 29^th March, 2017 and by the Rajya Sabha on 6^th April, 2017.

The GST Council has decided the final structure of GST as follows:

· The threshold limit for exemption from levy of GST is Rs. 20 lakh for the States except for the Special Category, where it is Rs 10 Lakh.

· A four slab tax rate structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% has been adopted for GST.

· A cess would be levied on certain goods such as luxury cars, aerated drinks, pan masala and tobacco products, over and above the GST rate of 28% for payment of compensation to the states.

· The threshold for availing the Composition scheme is Rs. 75 lakh except for special category States where it is Rs. 50 lakh and they are required to file quarterly returns only. Certain categories of manufacturers, service providers (except restaurants) are out of the Composition Scheme.

Other Important Features of GST

· GST envisages all transactions and processes to be done only through electronic mode, to achieve non-intrusive administration.  This will minimise tax payers physical interaction with the tax officials.

· GST provides for the facility of auto-populated monthly returns and annual return.

· It also facilitates the taxpayers by prescribing grant of refund within 60 days, and provisional release of 90% refund to exporters within 7 days. Further facilitation measures include interest payment if refund is not sanctioned in time, and refund to be directly credited to bank accounts.

· Comprehensive transitional provisions for ensuring smooth transition of existing taxpayers to GST regime, credit for available stocks, etc.

·  Other provisions include system of GST Compliance Rating, etc.

·  Anti-profiteering provisions for protection of consumer rights.

Role of GST Network (GSTN) – IT backbone of GST

GSTN has been created as a section 25 private limited company with Strategic Control with the Government, to function as a common Pass-through portal for taxpayers. On this common portal, taxpayers will submit their registration applications, file returns, make tax payments, claim refunds etc. GSTN has been provided with a robust IT platform and it will provide interface to 80 lakh taxpayers and thousands of tax officials. All filings under GST will be done electronically.  While GSTN remains a front-end, at the back end, the IT systems of CBEC and different states interface with the GSTN IT network to provide a seamless end to end processing of tax returns for the taxpayers. 64,000 officials have been trained on the GST portal from February till June 2017. The GSTN IT systems have undergone load tests, performance tests, vulnerability tests, security and all other mandatory tests.

Enrolment of existing taxpayers of the State tax administrations and the Central Board of Excise and Customs to the GST system commenced on 8^thNovember, 2016. More than 66 lakh taxpayers have activated their account at the GST portal.

GST Application on Payment has been operationalized. 25 banks have been integrated with the GST Common portal and will be providing e-payment and Over the counter payment facilities as well as payment through NeFT/RTGS and credit/debit card.

GST OUTREACH PROGRAMME

The Government has stepped up its outreach programme through various events, workshops, media, television to reach masses. Field formations of CBEC, at all levels have been activated to carry out interaction with the trade and industry to help them with the migration to GST and to clear their doubts. The field units of CBEC have run campaigns using mobile vans to reach the assessees at their door-step to help them with the GST migration and transitional issues. A total of 4700 workshops have been conducted across India.

An extensive multi-media campaign through print and electronic media, outdoor hoardings, etc. has been carried out for informing, educating and assisting taxpayers and other stake-holders to enable a smooth transition to GST. 

 RE-ORGANISATION OF CBEC

Implementation of GST has necessitated reorganisation of the Central Board of Excise & Customs formations for administration of GST. The reorganisation involved bringing about structural changes and redeployment of human resources. Redeployment has been done to ensure outreach to the remotest corner. The Directorates which have significant role under the GST have been adequately expanded and strengthened.

The field formations have been restructured as 21 CGST & CX Zones, 107 CGST & CX Commissionerates, 12 Sub-Commissionerates, 768 CGST & CX Divisions, 3969 CGST & CX Ranges, 48 Audit Commissionerates and 49 Appeal Commissionerates.

TRAINING

For a smooth roll out of GST, it was imperative to carry out adequate capacity-building exercise and awareness. National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) have conducted extensive training programs. In the first phase, nearly 52,000 officers were trained during September, 2016 to January, 2017 through a multi-layered training programme across India. A Refresher Training was also conducted on updated Law, Rules and Procedures and a total of 17,213 officials were trained till 23rd June, 2017.  Under the Accredited GST Training Programme, 20 institutes have been certified as ‘Approved Training Partners’ to impart ‘quality training at reasonable cost’ to members of trade/industry and other stakeholders. 2,565 participants have been trained so far (ongoing). NACIN have also trained 2,611 officers from 92 Ministries/PSUs trained so far.  

Besides that, training resources such as 500 FAQs on GST have been released in English, Hindi and 10 regional languages. A number of Flyers on different topics of GST explaining the GST concepts, for dissemination to trade & industry, PPTs and Learning Videos for GST training and other training materials for the officials have also been released.

SERVICE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

A twitter seva started by the Government as an initiative to answer queries of the Tax Payers on a real time basis. The twitter handle askGST_GOI attracts thousands of taxpayer queries every day. A list of FAQs based on frequent questions asked on Twitter has been already got published.

New Delhi : Stage is set for the launch of a nationwide goods and services tax, GST, at a function in Central Hall of Parliament at midnight tonight. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the new tax regime replacing more than a dozen state and central levies built up over seven decades, with a one national GST unifying the country’s 2 trillion dollar economy and 1.3 billion people into a common market.

The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley further said that now large number of traders have registered themselves and the GST Network and other official machinery is fully ready for smooth roll-out of GST from 1st July, 2017.He said that he is sure that GST will not have any inflationary impact. He asked the representatives of trade and industry to inform, educate and explain to their distributors, retailers and consumers at large about the positive impact of GST especially on the price front. The representatives of trade and industry on the other hand congratulated the Government for their bold initiative by bringing historical Indirect Tax Reform which will help not only consumers but also boost the prospects of growth of Indian economy. They assured the Government that benefit of price reduction would be passed on the consumers. They also put forward their concerns and asked the Government to issue certain clarifications to remove any doubt or confusion among the traders.

Congress party has however decided to boycott the event apparently to protest against hardship being caused to small and medium enterprises and traders. Left, RJD, SP and TMC are also boycotting the event.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has made a last minute appeal to the opposition to reconsider their decision saying the landmark indirect tax reform was a result of a joint decision and they cannot run away from it now.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court will hear a petition on July 6 which challenges the eviction of slum dwellers of Rajeev Camp. 
The petitioners — dislocated slum dwellers — claimed that the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Poliy, 2015 was discriminatory as the residents were found to be ineligible on the sole ground that they did not possess Voter ID Cards. 
Robin R. David, appearing on behalf of the Petitioners, submitted that the slum dwellers despite possessing other valid proof of residence in Rajeev Camp prior to the cut-off date of 01.01.2015, were held ineligible for allotment and relocation on the sole ground that they did not possess Voter ID cards. The evicted slum dwellers claimed that on account of the eviction and demolition, they were forced to live in make-shift tents without water, sanitation, medical facilities, electricity and other basic necessities which are endangering their health and especially children’s?.

NEW DELHI : The nominations of all presidential candidates, except those of NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind and Opposition candidate Meira Kumar, were rejected on Thursday after scrutiny. 104 nomination papers were filed for the top constitutional post for which process of filing of nomination began on 14th of this month .

Except the two main contenders, the nominations of the rest were rejected as none of them were proposed and backed by the required number of members of the electoral college.According to the rules, a presidential candidate’s nomination should be signed by at least 50 members of an electoral college as proposers and endorsed by as many.

Elected members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and all State legislative assemblies are members of the electoral college. This time, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha is the returning officer for the presidential election

GSAT-17 became India’s third communication satellite to successfully reach orbit in the past two months. GSAT-17 was launched in the early morning hours using the European Ariane 5 Launch Vehicle from Kourou, French Guiana. The 3477 kg GSAT-17 carries communication payloads in C-band, Extended C-band and S-band for providing various services to the country. The satellite also carries equipment for meteorological data relay and satellite based search and rescue services. 

After its lift-off at 0245 hrs (2:45 am) IST and a flight lasting about 39 minutes, GSAT-17 separated from the Ariane 5 upper stage in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 249 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,920 km, inclined at an angle of 3 degrees to the equator. 

ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the command and control of GSAT-17 immediately after its separation from the launch vehicle. Preliminary health checks of the satellite revealed its normal functioning. 

In the coming days, orbit raising manoeuvres will be performed to place GSAT-17 satellite in the Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) by using the satellite’s propulsion system in steps. 

During the final stages of its orbit raising operations, the two solar arrays and both the antenna reflectors of GSAT-17 will be deployed. Following this, the satellite will be put in its final orbital configuration. GSAT-17 will be positioned at its designated orbital slot in the geostationary orbit and will be co-located with some of the Indian operational geostationary satellites. Later, it is planned to turn on the communication payloads of the satellite. After the successful completion of all the in-orbit tests, GSAT-17 will be ready for operational use. 

Government has notified roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 1st of next month, the GST will subsume a host of indirect levies like excise, service tax and VAT.

A special programme will be held in Central Hall of Parliament tomorrow midnight for the launch of new indirect tax regime. President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and a host of Senior Ministers and bureaucrats will attend the programme.

A mega rehearsal was conducted last night in the Central Hall of Parliament ahead of the historic launch of GST. Official sources said, the mock drill was conducted around 10 pm to ensure that all things were in place during the main event.

Earlier, talking to reporters in New Delhi, Mr Jaitley said, the Constitution does not give luxury to delay the nation’s biggest economic reform by six months. He said deferring GST is a constitutionally impossible thing.

Finance Minister said, the date of GST implementation, rules and tax rates had been decided through a consensus by the GST Council.

He said, the Constitutional amendment approved by Parliament last year gave time only till 15th of September, 2017 to replace the existing indirect tax structure by the GST.

The minister said, in absence of the GST, there will be a constitutional crisis as no tax can be levied on goods and services.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep disappointment over the increasing incidents of violence in the country and said non violence is a basic life style of India. 

He was speaking at the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Shrimad Rajchandraji, a Guru to Mahatma Gandhi, organised at Abhay Ghat near Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Thursday. He said, killing people in the name of cow protection is not acceptable and Mahatma Gandhi would have never approved this. 

The Prime Minister called upon the people to work together to create India of Mahatma Gandhi’s dreams on which the freedom fighters would feel proud.Modi said, thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi have power to mitigate challenges, the world is facing today. 

The Prime Minister urged people to work together and create the India of Mahatma Gandhi’s dreams, which our freedom fighters would be proud of. 

The Prime Minister also inaugurated a special exhibition organised by National Archives as part of the centenary celebrations of the Ashram.

It’s perhaps a measure of the sense of trepidation with which New Delhi was approaching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first meeting with US President Donald Trump that it sought to play down expectations with an Indian official contending it was “quite happy to sacrifice the thrills and frills, as long as there are no spills” in the run up to the visit. Much to the relief of the Indian side, the meeting between the two leaders saw no “spills”, at least not in the public domain. Instead, it saw numerous convergences emerge between the Modi government and the new Trump administration with the two sides seeking to make their strategic clinch even stronger. There were no major policy outcomes from the meeting but suffice it to say that it has set a positive tone and tenor for bilateral relations under the Trump administration, undoubtedly leaving New Delhi feeling quite reassured. The many areas of convergence as enunciated in the comprehensive joint statement issued at the end of the Modi-Trump meeting too should make New Delhi optimistic about being able to sustain the upward trajectory of ties, notwithstanding the differences. That New Delhi approached the Modi-Trump meeting with a certain amount of apprehension, even nervousness was the fact that the man at the helm of affairs, Donald Trump, has left the world guessing with his penchant for the unpredictable in terms of US foreign policy. This apart, the fact that the White House had not enunciated its South Asia policy left New Delhi on tenterhooks. President Trump’s pot-shots at India on the Paris climate change agreement suggesting India stood to gain billions of dollars in foreign aid if it signed it and the signing of an executive order of ‘Buy American, Hire American’ which allows a crackdown on the H1B visa programme for skilled workers—Indian techies have been major beneficiaries of this visa— had only queered the pitch for New Delhi as it sought to engage with the new White House occupant. The declaration by President Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House that “India would have a true friend in the White House” should set at rest at least some of the fears South Block may have had about the future of the relationship. Further, President Trump’s assertion that ties between the two countries have never been stronger and better should also put New Delhi at ease. Indian foreign secretary S.Jaishankar’s assertion that the overarching theme of the discussions were “mutually supportive of each other in a changing world” in essence provides the template for bilateral relations the leaders of the world’s two largest democracies are seeking to forge. These encompass both the strategic and economic sphere, with the former getting off to a good start with the US State Department designating Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin a Global Terrorist just hours before the Trump-Modi meeting. India got a further shot in its arm with the strong message sent to Pakistan through the joint statement which sharply called upon Islamabad not to allow the use of its territory to launch terror attacks against others. Importantly, the joint statement also asks that the Pak-based perpetrators of the cross-border strikes like 26/11 and Pathankot be swiftly brought to justice. Trump’s reference to how the two countries can together “destroy radical Islamic terrorism”, while also drawing attention to the bilateral security partnership as being “incredibly important”, too indicates the resolve to continue working together in the counter-terrorism arena. Towards this end, the Trump-Modi meeting also decided to set up a “new consultation mechanism on domestic and international terrorist designation listing proposal”. Much to the dismay of Pakistan, which has always accused India of exercising undue influence and meddling in Afghanistan, President Trump also strongly endorsed India’s role in promoting “democracy, stability, prosperity and security” there. The Modi-Trump meeting also saw reaffirmation of the strategic convergence between the two countries. The US has bagged Indian arms deals worth over 15 billion dollars, and the bilateral defence trade is set to further expand after the designation of India as a “major defence partner” by the Obama administration last year. President Trump’s pointed mention of the forthcoming Malabar exercise among the US, Indian and Japanese navies, which has been a major sore point with China in the past, reflects the growing synergies in the defence and security arena. Indeed, New Delhi which has had increasingly prickly relations with Beijing in recent times found a willing partner in Washington with the joint statement drawing attention to the South China Sea. Without specifically mentioning the disputed region, the statement calls on “all nations to resolve territorial and maritime disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law”. With Trump’s honeymoon with the Chinese giving way to increasing impatience, New Delhi also got Washington to back its stand on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that runs through Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). Part of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of Beijing, the CPEC has raised New Delhi’s hackles and it chose to boycott the BRI Summit last month. The joint statement mentioned the two leaders “support bolstering regional economic connectivity through the transparent development of infrastructure and the use of responsible debt financing practices while ensuring respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”. India, on its part, supported the hardline US policy on North Korea, with the two leaders pledging to counter its weapons of mass destruction programme. However, despite all the positives, there were two glaring omissions in the Modi-Trump discussions. Wary of Trump’s ‘America First’ mantra and his off-the-cuff remarks and tweets, India chose not to raise the issue of H1B visas. Neither did New Delhi raise the Paris climate change pact, which has been dumped by Trump. Bilateral trade, too, remains a major area of divergence with President Trump drawing attention to it more than once during the PM’s visit, and noting the need to “create a trading relationship that is fair and reciprocal”. India will perforce need to address White House concerns about the trade deficit between the two countries and the removal of trade barriers and market access for US goods if it seeks to maintain robust ties with the Trump administration with its emphasis on ‘America First’ and jobs creation. Else, President Trump may lose patience, as is his wont. And then the three bear hugs and numerous hand-shakes between the two leaders may come to naught.

(The writer is a senior journalist.The views are personal)