-The Hindu Discontent over the new farm laws is a result of sidestepping debate and discussion in Parliament The ongoing farmers’ agitation epitomises the need to have detailed discussions and consultations while making law and policy. The process of building consensus and addressing concerns may be time-consuming, but it leads to greater acceptance of policy objectives. While such work has to be done at multiple levels, Parliament is perhaps the most important...

-The Telegraph Three states — Punjab, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh — have not accepted the proposals yet Bengal and Kerala have dropped their opposition to the Centre’s borrowing option to bridge the gap in the Goods and Services Tax revenue receipts. The two states have opted for the limited borrowing option under which the Centre will borrow funds and pass them on to the states but the debt will be recognised in the balance...

Just before Dhanteras and Diwali this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the November edition of its monthly bulletin. The latest RBI Monthly Bulletin says that the GDP has contracted by -8.6 percent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 (i.e. July-September, 2020) as compared to the gross domestic product (GDP) during the corresponding period last year. It may be noted that India’s GDP shrunk by -23.9...

-The Hindu India could be living through a reprise of the ‘Congress system’, but with significant differences in the BJP’s re-enactment At the first signs of stress, the grand vision of a nation unified in a singular system of taxation, was supplanted by a policy of every-state-for-itself. Just over three years ago, the introduction of a unified “goods and services tax” (GST) was heralded by a midnight session of Parliament, a theatrical...

-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...