-The Hindu Dues equal four months’ compensation, says Finance Ministry The Centre is yet to remit ₹78,704 crore in outstanding Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation dues to States, equivalent to four months of compensation under the indirect tax regime introduced in July 2017, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday, citing ‘inadequate balance in the fund’.   “The pending amount will also be released as and when amount from cess accrues in the...

-The Hindu U.P. was the only State to do a skill mapping exercise of returning migrants last year, says an official Just four lakh migrant workers returned to Uttar Pradesh during the second COVID-19 wave this year, compared to 40 lakh workers after the national lockdown of 2020, indicating many of these workers may not have returned to their earlier workplaces after the first wave and got gainfully employed in U.P., top...

Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...

-Newsclick.in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman invoking ‘Act of God’ to deny states their promised dues, not only violates an Act of Parliament but also defies economic logic. When the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced, and states virtually gave up the power to levy indirect taxes which they had enjoyed under the Constitution, the Centre had solemnly promised that it would compensate them for five years for any revenue shortfall arising...

-The Hindu ‘Centre should borrow loan and pay dues instead of asking States to do so citing fall in collections’ Hyderabad: Six State governments, including Telangana, on Monday bounced back the Centre’s offer made to them to borrow loan and meet their GST compensation in view of shortfall in collections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At a video conference of Finance Ministers, Telangana apart, West Bengal, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Punjab governments, arrived...