-The Hindu The Centre is best positioned to raise additional resources to bridge the GST compensation gap Today is the crucial meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. It may not be an exaggeration to claim that today’s meeting could mark a milestone in the history of India’s fiscal federalism and shape the future of Centre-State relations. In 2017, the Centre made a promise to the States that a certain minimum...
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Centre used GST compensation cess elsewhere, violated law: CAG
-PTI/ The Hindu The CAG findings run contrary to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s submissions in Parliament last week that states could not be compensated for revenue shortfall from the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) relying on an opinion from the Attorney General of India which stated that there was no such provision in the law. The CAG has found that the Union government in the very first two years of the GST...
More »Political economy of the opposition to agri reforms -Roshan Kishore
-Hindustan Times Farmers in Punjab and Haryana, the richest agricultural states, which also account for the highest share of government procurement in India, are at the forefront of these protests. That it has been undoing historical wrongs to boost the Indian economy is a key narrative of the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government. When such moves are criticised, it is quick to portray its opponents as representing a group of...
More »Farmers are paying more, even under schemes meant for their benefit -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-The Indian Express Each of the poverty alleviation programmes seems to have a recurring theme — being funded by the poor themselves. The rodomontade about heralding a new epoch of prosperity six years ago is gradually evaporating. It appears the PM is in the dark about the delivery of his government’s policies, just as the Congress leadership seems clueless about issues on the ground. Four specific pain points unmask the gap between...
More »Centre’s stance on GST compensation to states is untenable, legally and morally -TM Thomas Isaac
-The Indian Express The stand of Indian government is devoid of any macro-economic logic. It is not a contra-cyclical, but a pro-cyclical stance. And it is untenable, legally and morally. The relation between the Centre and the states has reached its nadir with the controversy over the GST compensation payment. The shortfall in GST revenues in 2020-21 from the protected level will be of the order of Rs 3 lakh crore. The...
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