GOODS and Services Tax (GST) has completed six years since it was launched on midnight of June 30, 2017. It was billed as India’s second freedom. In a repetition of the then Parliament’s midnight meeting on August 14, 1947, the Parliament met dramatically in 2017 to hear the Prime Minister announce the launch of GST.
Economists associated directly or indirectly with the government have been arguing that there is not much unemployment since enough employment is being generated. Further, they argue that the amount of employment required to be generated annually is not too large.
Mr. Modi entered tenth year of his rule over India as PM on May 26. Nehru passed away 59 years back as PM on May 27. Mr. Modi has been highly critical of Nehru. Worse, he implies that India has only progressed in the last 9 years under his rule. This propaganda has gone deep down and is accepted by his followers. The BJP highlighted Mr. Modi’s achievements on the occasion while the Congress Party issued a booklet questioning them.
The willingness of the US to provide India some technology without expecting reciprocity is gratifying. But is it not one-sided, with India getting technologies it has not been able to develop by itself?
The frequency of extreme weather events has been increasing. Ferocious cyclones, severe droughts and floods, wildfires, melting glaciers, and polar ice caps are reported too frequently. The world needs to consider an alternative development path, and Gandhi can be one starting point.
India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, launched in 2020 with high expectations, aimed to provide a subsidy of Rs 1.9 lakh crore over six years. However, as of March 2023, only Rs 3,400 crore in claims have been received and Rs 2,900 crore disbursed. The scheme had, therefore, experienced a significant shortfall.