Determined BJP seeks to table insurance, GST Bills

Dated 26th November, 2014

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government on Tuesday signalled its determination to push through two pieces of legislation key to its economic agenda, despite opposition in the Parliament.

The party told its parliamentarians that the constitutional amendment bill to allow goods and services tax (GST) will be tabled during the winter session. Besides, the Rajya Sabha select committee examining the insurance bill amendment will submit its report on 12 December.

The proposed GST, which will replace excise duty, service tax and value-added tax, aims to foster a national market for goods and services, cut business costs and boost government revenue.

The insurance bill, which proposes to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) ceiling in local insurers to 49% from the current 26%, will help them raise much-needed capital.

The select committee, which was expected to submit its report on 28 November, got a two-week extension after two of its members—J.P. Nadda and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi—joined the Narendra Modi cabinet on 9 November. In their place, V.P. Singh Badnore and Rangasayee Ramakrishna have joined the committee.

After the committee submits its report, the Rajya Sabha will take it up for discussion.

“Two members of the committee were included in the council of ministers, which led to stalling of work of the panel which led to the delay,” said Anand Sharma, Congress leader and former Union minister.

Chandan Mitra, BJP MP and chairman of the select committee, expressed confidence that the report will be ready on time. “I’m quite optimistic because everything else, apart from the clause-by-clause discussion has been completed. With the cooperation of the members, there should not be any difficulty. In another two or three meetings, the process would be completed.”

The insurance bill has run into resistance, mainly from the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist), which have joined hands to block the bill.

While Congress supports the amendments in principle, the party, along with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is waiting for the select committee report before finalizing its opinion. Mitra made light of the opposition from various parties.

“Not all opposition parties, only some, just a minuscule number, have ideological problems.... But what consensus I believe is already there, is that the bill will be passed and the FDI limit would be raised,” he said.

At the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley told MPs that the government was trying to table the GST bill during this session.

“The government will talk to all states in this regard and will try to bring about a consensus on the issue, and introduce GST in the country by the year 2016. A bill will be introduced in this session,” said Rajiv Pratap Rudy, minister of state for parliamentary affairs.

The tussle between the government and opposition continued during the day as the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party disrupted the Parliament proceedings over the issue of bringing back black money hidden abroad.

The government agreed to discuss the issue in the Parliament but charged the Congress party with trying to protect the guilty. Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and party members along with Trinamool Congress members protested outside the main entrance of the Parliament over the issue. “The government had promised to bring back black money in 100 days. Six months have passed since, where is that black money?” Yadav demanded to know. “The prime minister had said he will make India a prosperous country and there will be development with that recovered black money. What happened?”

Prakash Javadekar, minister of state for environment and information and broadcasting, sought to defend the government, saying work to bring back illegal money had started.

“Those who are jittery due to our action and people from the Congress are trying to save people with black money,” Javadekar told reporters outside the Parliament.