Mysuru: A report on various issues including banking reforms, pros and cons of GST and on functioning of RBI will be presented in forthcoming Session of the Parliament, said Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Chairman Veerappa Moily.
He was speaking at a press conference organised at a private hotel in city yesterday and said that the previous UPA Government had the idea of GST as one nation, one tax and it could have been implemented in a transparent manner. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not implemented it properly.
Businesses hit: Due to Goods and Service Tax (GST) there are allegations that the micro, small and medium industries are hit. Job creation has suffered. Even the banking sector has failed to discharge its duties properly. A situation has arisen where they are finding it difficult to lend loans. All these issues will be discussed in the Parliamentary Committee meeting being held in city, he said.
Centre should waive farmers’ loans: It is the responsibility of the Central Government to waive off the farmers’ loans. If the State Government waives it, it will not be of much use to the farmers. In the past the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had waived off farmers’ loans. This had not affected the economy of the country or even the banks. However, in the present context, the Central Government is trying to waive the loans of the industrialists. The big industries who have borrowed heavily from the banks are not repaying and such loans are being converted into NPAs (Non Performing Assets) and they are getting the benefit of nearly 82 percent loan waiver, said Moily.
The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) plays a vital role in keeping the economy buoyant. However, after demonetisation, its role has suffered. This resulted in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country going down from between 2 percent to 4 percent. The previous RBI Governor had felt that to recover from this blow at least two years is needed, recalled Moily.
Precautions must be taken: On the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the State, he said that as the days progress many problems are likely to be resolved. The programmes implemented by Siddharamaiah government must be continued as it is. The Coordination Committee must take care to see that the Congress party is not affected by the coalition government, he said.
Narendra Modi’s call for simultaneous elections of Lok Sabha and Assembly is nothing but political opportunism. Even the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru had held simultaneous elections. But following later developments it became difficult to hold them simultaneously. However, our opposition is not to simultaneous elections but to political opportunism, he clearly stated.
Meetings in 3 districts: The Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting will be held on July 11 and 12 in Mysuru district and matters related to RBI laws and banking reforms will be discussed. The Committee will move to Kodagu district where they will discuss about cash crops like coffee, pepper and Cardamom. In the remaining two days, the panel will meet in Mangaluru to discuss about airport expansion, tax, national highway and harbour, he said.
Best Standing Committee: Our Standing Committee is declared the best one among the various Standing Committees. Till now, the Finance Standing Committee has presented 61 reports. The government has looked into it and implemented a few changes. Our Standing Committee reports cannot be brushed aside, he said.
Former MLA Vasu was present at the press conference.
This post was published on July 11, 2018 6:36 pm