"GST a good idea, but shabbily implemented": Shashi Tharoor in Lok Sabha

"If demonetization was a bad policy and badly implemented, GST was a good idea but which was badly designed and shabbily implemented," Tharoor said in the Lower House.

Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday, taking part in the debate on the interim Budget in Lok Sabha, targeted the centre on its demonetization plan of 2016 and the introduction of GST regime in 2017. He said that the Goods and Services Tax was a good idea but shabbily implemented.

"If demonetization was a bad policy and badly implemented, GST was a good idea but which was badly designed and shabbily implemented," Tharoor said in the Lower House. "The Goods and Services Tax has been used to trample over the financial autonomy of our states, and when coupled with demonetization, it resulted in finishing our job-generating small micro and medium businesses. It caused a 45-year high unemployment, and ended the economic recovery that began in 2013," he said.

Goods and Services Tax was introduced in the country with effect from July 1, 2017, and states were assured compensation for loss of any revenue arising on account of the implementation of GST as per the provisions of the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 for a period of five years. "All while failing a tochieve all of its stated objectives, ordinary Indians have suffered. Even the GST tax slabs on basic items - toothpaste, footwear, shirt and pants, rice and wheat. Instead of flushing our black money, it simply resulted in concentrating wealth in the hands of the government, but at the expense of Aam Aadmi," Tharoor added.

Citing data, he attacked the Centre saying that employment in the non-agricultural sector has declined. "The young people of our country is facing a double whammy because of falling labour participation rates and shockingly high unemployment rates," he said.

Talking about startup sector, which the current government is highly focused on, he said fundraising activities have been subdued. "The government praises the startup culture as an alternative but funds-starved startups fired nearly 18,000 people in 2022. Startup fundraising activity is so subdued that in all India startups put together raised USD 1.1 billion in January, down 75 per cent compared to January of previous year," Tharoor said.

Turning to MSMEs, which is a major generator of employment, he said they are shrinking. The number of MSMEs has dwindled and a sizable of them have ceased to exist. "Many were permanently closed after the disastrous demonetization. In 2016, we had 6.25 crore MSMEs, the number has now dwindled to 3.25 crore, as per the government's MSME registration portal (Udyam)."

"More than 60 per cent of the conventional micro-enterprises our country which were engaged in business for more than 10 years have perished. They have been closed," the parliamentarian said. (ANI)

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