Prime Minister appealed to the people not to believe in rumours and misinformation about the GST and urged the doubting Thomases to see the reality.
"Yeh kisi ek dal ka siddhi nahi hae (This achievement is not of one party or one government)," Prime Minister said at a glittering function at the Central Hall of Parliament - which was graced by former foot soldiers of the long GST journey like Yashwant Sinha, Vijay Kelkar and Dr Asim Dasgupta and also the likes of business tycoons Ratan Tata and N Subhash Chandra.
"Yeh hum sabh ki sanjhi virasat hae (This is joint effort of all of us)," he said and also maintained that the GST will play a game changer in helping the poor and downtrodden too.
"Today at midnight we all will determine the road ahead for the country," he said.
Prime Minister said the GST would eliminate about 500 taxes, and will benefit the poor. He also appealed to the traders to pass on the benefit of the GST to the poor.
New Delhi, Jun 30
In tryst with midnight in the 21st century, Prime Minister tonight floated a new definition for GST - calling it Good and Simple Tax - and sought to dismiss the attack from Congress and other opposition parties for bringing in an "half-baked" new tax regime.
Mr Modi said there may be initial teething troubles as the transition to GST would have its problems. In this context, he gave the example of how new spectacles with updated power is initially uncomfortable.
"In reality GST is - Good and Simple Tax - as it's one tax for one country and good for the development of the country," PM Modi said.
"Yeh kisi ek dal ka siddhi nahi hae (This achievement is not of one party or one government)," Prime Minister said at a glittering function at the Central Hall of Parliament - which was graced by former foot soldiers of the long GST journey like Yashwant Sinha, Vijay Kelkar and Dr Asim Dasgupta and also the likes of business tycoons Ratan Tata and N Subhash Chandra.
"Yeh hum sabh ki sanjhi virasat hae (This is joint effort of all of us)," he said and also maintained that the GST will play a game changer in helping the poor and downtrodden too.
"Today at midnight we all will determine the road ahead for the country," he said.
Prime Minister said the GST would eliminate about 500 taxes, and will benefit the poor. He also appealed to the traders to pass on the benefit of the GST to the poor.
He also appealed to the people not to believe in rumours and misinformation about the GST and urged the doubting Thomases to see the reality.
Ending as many as 14 long years of debate and frequent skirmishes along side allegations of derailing it, the "historic" and "breath-taking" Goods and Services Tax, biggest tax reform in India, was rolled out tonight in a grand ceremony at the Central Hall of Parliament.
While both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called the proposal to enforce 'one nation-one tax' norm as "historic", President Pranab Mukherjee said the "scope of the change is truly breath-taking".
The biggest ever tax reform GST is also expected to reduce the burden on the common man and will integrate India into a common market, bigger than the European Union. By doing away with the plethora of taxes, the GST is expected to accelerate economic growth even as opposition parties have accused government of bringing in an 'half-baked' system in hurry.
President Pranab Mukherjee said the scope of change in the GST is "breath-taking" even as some of the changes in it are "disruptive".
Addressing the gathering at the Central Hall of Parliament, Mr Mukherjee said, "Even for a person like me who has been intimately involved in matters of taxation and finance, the scope of the change we are undertaking is truly breath-taking".
He said while the GST will work as a major boost to "economic efficiency", as a measure GST is also a "disruptive change". "It is similar to the introduction of VAT when there was initial resistance".
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| Veteran Advani was present |
First proposed in 2003 when a Task Force headed by Vijay Kelkar had recommended for GST, the grand proposal has, however, undergone a long journey wherein the ruling BJP was in the past accused of derailing and delaying it. Even hours before GST was rolled out, the Opposition Congress and Left parties and regional outfits like RJD and Trinamool Congress announced boycott of the glittering GST function in the historic Central Hall.
In fact, without naming anyone, President Mukherjee said as Finance Minister he had interacted with Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra a number of times.
Before 2014 - it goes without saying - none other than PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.The business tycoons Ratan Tata and N Subhash Chandra and former compatriots like Dr Asim Dasgupta, ex West Bengal Finance Minister, and former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha were among others who attended the glittering function. The occasion was also graced by the likes of Vijay Kelkar, former chairman of the Task Force which recommended first for bringing GST and the union Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia.
The presence of Dr Dasgupta was significant as his party CPI-M had announced about their boycott from tonight's proceedings in the Central Hall.
Dr Dasgupta was chairman of the first Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers and his role in the 14 year long journey was appreciated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his welcome speech.
The new tax regime was rolled by President Mukherjee and Prime Minister Modi in reminiscent of the historic midnight 'tryst with destiny' in 1947.
"From Ganganagar to Itanagar and Leh to Lakshadweep, it is one nation, one tax," a jovial looking Prime Minister said adding the new norms will do away with 500 other kinds of taxes practiced hitherto in the country.
The GST, he said, will help curb corruption and black money and also bring in qualitative improvement in governance.
Prime Minister remained focused about poorer section and said the new system would ultimately help this section.
Notably for the government, NCP, JD-U, TRS , JD-S broke ranks with opposition parties to attend the mid-night ceremony. Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh also gave the occasion a miss.
The government has defended the decision of going ahead with the complex four broad tax categories of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.
In many quarters, apprehensions have been expressed mainly because some sectors were still trying to cope with the demonetization decision announced by Prime Minister Modi on November 8 last year.Mr Jaitley also said as Finance Minister in the erstwhile UPA regime - President Pranab Mukherjee himself has been a "gawah (witness)" to the entire journey.
The Finance Minister said, ensuring GST implementation would be a testimony to the fact that "India can rise above narrow party differences".
The solemn occasion was also graced by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda - even as Dr Manmohan Singh was a big miss.
The Congress and opposition parties like Trinamool Congress, Lalu Prasad-led RJD and Left parties stayed away from today's proceedings.
Among others, Sharad Pawar of NCP came along side his party colleagues Majeed Memon, Praful Patel and Tariq Anwar.
Among the BJP MPs, Mathura representative Hema Malini - clad in a shining blue Sari - was also present.
BJP chief Amit Shah and party patriarch L K Advani were also present.
Yashwant Sinha, who is not having a sound relation with BJP leadership for sometime, was embraced more than once by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar. Sinha's son and MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha was also present. One BJP MP was found indicating Jayant Sinha about the presence of his father in the audience.
Samajwadi MP Ram Gopal develops 'uneasiness', comes back to join GST function
New Delhi, Jun 30 (UNI) Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav today fell sick at the Central Hall of Parliament and was soon taken out by the ruling side members and his party colleagues.
Sitting in one of the front benches, Mr Yadav complained of dizziness and was soon assisted among others by Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Mr Yadav was taken out for a while as his party colleagues and son Akshay Yadav, also MP, also accompanied him. Later party sources said, he was feeling "uneasy". But Mr Yadav soon came back and joined the proceedings when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech was on.
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