PM bats for shift to January-December financial year

New Delhi: Close on the heels of advancing the Budget presentation in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pushed for shifting to January- December fiscal year. He also yet again made a strong case for conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. 

Briefing reporters about the meeting, NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya said Prime Minister pitched that :"we should think of January-December financial year as this is appropriate from the point of view of farmers". 

Mr Modi also urged states, local governments and NGOs to decide goals for 2022 and work in mission mode towards achieving them. Addressing the NITI Aayog Governing Council's third meeting here, the Prime Minister called for carrying forward the debate and discussions on holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state legislatures. 

Stressing on the need for Team India -- the Centre and the states - to work together, Mr Modi urged states to use the GeM platform – Government e-Marketplace, to reduce corruption and increase transparency in Government procurement. 

He said the use of technologies such as BHIM and Aadhaar would result in significant savings for the States. On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Mr Modi asked the states to make legislative arrangements "without delay" for the rollout of the indirect tax regime from July 1. At meeting attended by most Chief Ministers, including from opposition ruled states, Mr Modi said, 
"Because of poor time management, many good initiatives and schemes had failed to deliver expected results". 

The consensus on GST reflects the spirit of 'one nation, one aspiration, one determination', Mr Modi earlier said in his opening remarks at the meeting. The meeting of the Governing Council at the Rashtrapati Bhavan was attended by several chief ministers, including from non-BJP ruled states like Punjab, Bihar, Tripura and Karnataka. 

The notable absentees were West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. At today's meeting Tamil Nadu CM E K Palaniswami pledged to take steps for early passage of GST bills. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also said that his government is doing its part for passage of the same, Odisha government has expressed concerns over calculation of compensation to the states. The Modi government proposes to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from July 1.

Several states have already passed State-GST bills. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, however, said Tamil Nadu should not be allowed to suffer for want of compensation for loss of revenue on account of implementation of the new tax regime. The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister said that GST workshops and seminars were being conducted and help desk was being established which would play an essential role in addressing problems of dealers. (UNI)