Rajnath Singh expresses confidence over getting GST bill passed in Parliament

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today expressed confidence over getting the long-pending Goods and Services Tax bill passed in Parliament.

“We are getting constitution amended for GST on which discussions have been on since long...since Congress’ time. I am confident that we will do those amendments and pass the GST,” Singh said.

“Due to lot of structural and procedural changes that we have brought in and due to foreign direct investments, also by integrating certain new things to our economic system we can proudly say that India is today the fastest growing economy in the world,” he said, addressing ‘Karnataka Raju Kshatriya Samavesha’ function here.

The proposed GST will subsume most of the indirect taxes.  Government has listed the Constitutional Amendment Bill for introduction of GST in Rajya Sabha for consideration and passage next week.

Praising the administration of Maharaja Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara empire, who ruled between 1509-1530, Singh said during his rule the great king had brought in some structural and procedural reforms, like the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is trying to bring in today.

He said Krishnadevaraya for the first time eliminated several old and outdated laws and replaced them with new ones, keeping the welfare of the people in mind.

Highlighting the prosperity of the Vijayanagara Empire, Singh said “For the progress of India there is need for foreign direct investment, you will be surprised that even during Maharaja Krishnadevaraya’s reign, foreigners used to come and invest here. That’s the reason why his empire was prosperous.”

“If you see now, our government also in the same way during the year 2015-16 has got our country USD 52 billion foreign direct investments..” “Our government has eliminated as many as 1200 old laws in two years and we will replace them with new ones,” he added.