GST Bill - A political milestone

GST Bill or the Goods and Services Bill is expected to be replacing the Sales Tax and VAT regime in our country, but there still seems to be a long way before it would get the node of Parliament. That all is a Political BS that needs to be detailed out but before that lets understand the basics of GST.

GST as proposed will be levied where the goods will be consumed and that would mean that the intermediary taxes that keep on adding to the cost of the product and bring in the variable price range from one state to other would be subsumed under GST.  A list of such taxes that would get abolished with the introduction of GST could be - 

1. Central Excise Tax levied on Manufacturing Unit
2. Service Tax levied on a Service Provider
3. Customs Duty levied on Imported goods
4. CST or Central Sales tax as levied on Inter-State Sales
5. Value Added Tax (VAT) levied by the States on the Goods or Services
6. CVD or Countervailing Duty and Special Additional Duty (SAD) as may be levied as compensating duties to Central Excise Tax / Service Tax

So, that would mean that from the layered tax there would be a simple tax regime with Center and State Share or so that to say.  We thus would not be paying taxes on already taxed items as we do today when the goods are sold and purchased at various layers of Wholesale and retail markets where they already pay the tax. As a consumer or end customer, we would definitely be benefitted with effective price control regime and better tax structure resulting in similar price structure of goods and services.

The Business segment would also get benefitted with the uniform structure and would be able to keep almost linear pricing models across the country.  However, the GDP would certainly NOT see the trend in immediate period of 2 years and we may see inflation setting in during that period and there may be a washout of the immediate benefits as may be expected from the GST.  It must be noted that contrary to the common assumption or expectation, the benefits of GDP would not be reaped by the current government with immediate effect (This is where the Politics come into picture).

So, now let's detail out the Political BS that I mentioned in the 1st para above and towards the end of previous para.  The current government is pushing hard to ensure that GST Bill is passed and the new tax regime is deployed with immediate effect because the benefits of GST would start showing from mid 2018 and the economy would show rising strength by the time the election in 2019 set in.  However, the opposition lead by Congress (I) certainly understand this calculation and would prefer to not to let the GST Bill pass until mid 2017. They would then look at letting the GST bill pass and getting enforced because they would then be able to showcase the weak economy, inflation and other economic factors to lure the public in their trap stating the failure of Governance.  That way when the elections in 2019 would set in, it would be easier for the Congress (I) led UPA to come back to power and then they would be in a better position to claim that the economic turnaround was caused by their economic policies. Simple math there as if the GST gets enforced in late 2017, it would only be in early 2020 the benefits would start reaping.

We the common people certainly don not understand all this big level game and we think that the political drama unfolding in the parliament is because the Crown Prince is in trouble.  No, that all is just a hogwash, the actual gameplay is to stall the proceedings in the parliament and not let the Bills like GST Bills pass in the parliament.  If every bill tabled in parliament today passes, then the benefits would be reaped by the current government, but if those bills are passed at a later stage or late in the game, the benefits would be reaped by government that would be formed in 2019.

We need to understand the political BS as being practiced by the Congress (I) and allies to stall the progress of the country and not just the work in Parliament.  GST Bill and every such bill tabled in the Parliament must pass within defined timelines else it would certainly be not the current government's failure, it would be the success of opposition to stall country's progress!!!

Should India Do it

Terrorism has hit India hard time and again from almost the time I remember it. The problem in Kashmir was always existing from the time of freedom from British rule; the problem in Punjab was bred over years than controlled, but again is showing the sign of going the militancy way; the problem of SIMI; the problem of Indian Mujaheedin (IM); the problem of naxalites, the problem of Bodoland. One can keep counting on these points and they would be ever existing.

Most of the problems are existent in India due to state sponsored terrorism; thanks to Pakistan and to certain extent China. Pakistan would have spend more on sponsoring terrorism in India specifically in Kashmir and in Punjab than actually spending on its own development. It has always engaged in Proxy War Fare except for couple of times when it was beaten to dust by Indian Army. Still, if we would do an analysis of the Terrorist operations in India, 90% of them can be easily linked to Pakistan. There are pretty much every terrorist link that originates in Pakistan; Interesting!!!

Coming form that point, if the recent Intelligence inputs are to be believed, Pakistan's spy agency and the God Father of Terrorism in the South Asian region, ISI has plotted yet another way to create unrest in India. This time ISI went on to create communal disturbance by orchestrating murders of Hindu Leaders (may include some prominent Politicians) and thus instigating the communal riots between Hindu and Muslim Community. They are planning to use the SIMI and IM sleeper cells through the links of Dawood Ibrahim (the master mind of 1992 Mumbai Blasts). The whole game plan is expected to spread across states where the communal tensions already prevail and these include - J&K, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. If reports are to be believed, this orchestration of plan would be staged somewhere in March and April, more close to the festival of Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colors. Trailers of this showdown has already been provided for in Punjab by igniting the communal tension with the recent case of torn pages of "Guru Granth Saheb".

So, now the million dollar question to be asked is - "Should India hunt down Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar to end one of the most chased cases in world Crime?" It's not that India would be the first one to do it. We have seen US, Israel, France, Russia, Britain and couple of other nations doing it. We have witnessed India doing it on the eastern border or Myanmar. 

Though in my previous post, I had mentioned that the act of terror can be ended only and only by addressing the resentment, but of that you need both the parties on the table. With specific case of Pakistan as well as Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, the situation is something that would baffle anyone in this world. We have seen that overtime they have come on the table, their security forces or the ISI or their proxy war groups led by likes of Hafeez Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and others have created disturbances either on the border or in the heartland India. In this case specifically, I personally feel that a surgical strike is something that is much needed to bring down the leaders of these terrorist groups.

It would however be interesting to see how the world leaders would join the forum to suggest India to restrain itself from any such surgical strike. They would preach the doctrine of negotiations and self controls and patience and what not, but they themselves would do absolutely different. So, the answer to the question - Should India Do It? lies in the way India braces the decision to do it. Conduct a surgical strike and get over the idiocy of these terrorist leaders. For once India should close its ears, stop listening to the World and go get those bastards and execute them. Yeah certainly some of the NGOs would shout out, the Prestitude Indian Media would try to make TRP news by opposing such move, the Shameless Politicians would try to raise slogans against the government and there would be few other minor disturbances in the country, but overall it would be good for India.

As per my thoughts that certainly are contradicting the doctrine of addressing the root cause, I would say that India Should Do it. India should conduct surgical strikes to wipe out likes of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and Hafee Saeed to create that void to connect and coordinate with the disorganized terror outfits like SIMI and IM, which operate more with the help of Sleeper Cells. I guess its high time to get this sorted out for once and for all, post which Pakistan can be dealt more with International Politics or other ways.

One thing for sure - It is time to shoot form the Gun rather than shooting from the lips and making statements like "If another Mumbai or Delhi happens, Pakistan would lose Baluchistan". Such statements basically serve as a challenge that should rather be given in action than in words. No one in India would want to witness another case or terror either in Mumbai, Delhi or elsewhere in the country.

Time to Act - Go Get Them, Do it for once!!!