If you noticed the treasury bench’s response in Rajya Sabha to the Kashmir protest, you would clearly identify the pattern. The BJP seems to be undeterred in its mission to allow the passage of the GST in this Parliamentary Session and its response in Rajya Sabha amply bore evidence of the fact. The indifference, the stoic silence and the minimalist slugfest ensured that the debate ended in three hours flat and the Govt representatives silently stomached the blames and the outburst that resulted due to the Kashmir violence.
Meanwhile sources indicate that the Government might be close to a breakthrough on the GST front and a settlement with the Congress could be on the cards as well. After months of squabbling on the various nitty-gritty, the BJP and Congress now seem to be close to agreeing on two of the three main points of contention.
Clamorworld learns that the Government may consider introducing a proposal in the Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill providing for the setting up of dispute resolution mechanism as suggested by the Congress, though they would prefer it to be chaired by the Finance Minister.
On the proposal of dropping the 1% additional tax, the government has already committed to dropping the proposed tax in line with the Congress’ demand.
The third contentious issue pertains to the technicalities of how the cap on the GST rate should be defined. It is now learnt that the Centre might consider inserting such a cap in the institution to avoid the GST becoming a mere puppet in the hands of the Govt which might be in power.
How the final game plan shapes out, guess we might have to wait for the final proposal that gets the nod. The bigger question though is will the Monsoon session see a final resolution to this long standing issue?
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