New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the states should make legislative arrangements “without delay” for GST rollout from July 1.
While delivering closing remarks at the third meeting of Governing Council of Niti Aayog, he also urged states, local governments and NGOs to decide goals for 2022 and work in mission mode towards achieving them.
“The Prime Minister reiterated that the legislative arrangements at the state-level for GST should be put in place without delay,” an official statement said.
The consensus on Goods and Services Tax (GST) reflects the spirit of ‘one nation, one aspiration, one determination’, Modi earlier said in his opening remarks at the meeting.
The GST, which will subsume central excise, service tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other local levies, is scheduled to be rolled out from July 1.
Parliament has already passed the supporting GST bills and the states are also required to pass their separate legislations for smooth implementation of the new tax regime.
The Prime minister also called upon states to use the Government e-Marketplace portal for procurement of goods and services as it would help in reducing corruption and increase transparency in the government procurement.
He said the use of technologies such as BHIM and Aadhaar would result in significant savings for the states.
Observing that funds such as district mineral, CAMPA and the construction workers welfare would provide significant boost to the resources of the state, he asked Niti Aayog to come up with a roadmap for better utilisation of such funds by the states.
Speaking of the historic change in budget presentation date, the Prime Minister said this would enable timely availability of funds at the beginning of the financial year.
Earlier, budgeted scheme funds were generally not approved by Parliament till May, after which they would be communicated to states and ministries. By that time, the monsoon arrived. Hence the best working season for schemes was typically lost.
He also mentioned the ending of the distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure, based on the recommendation of the Rangarajan Committee in 2011, which had found the distinction to be counter-productive.
Several important items of expenditure were included as ‘non-plan’ and hence neglected. Hereafter the emphasis would be on distinguishing between development and welfare expenditure on one hand, and administrative overheads on the other.
He added that there have been suggestions to follow January to December as financial year.
“He urged states to take the initiative in this regard,” it added.
He said the NITI Aayog is working on a 15 year long term vision, 7 year medium term strategy, and 3 year action agenda. He said this effort needs support of States, and will eventually reflect in benefits to States.