“It is like stitching cloth first and taking measurements later,” says a rice trader at the Karnal grain market in Haryana describing the haste shown by the NDA government in implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July.

“To stitch a dress that fits properly, the tailor has to take measurements properly before he or she sits down to sew.

But what is happening now with GST is that since the dress has been stitched already, the tailor is altering it constantly so that it fits somebody,” he says, commenting on the 350 or so changes that the GST Council has made so far.

He says his bottomline has been hit as no government official in Haryana or in States to which his cargo goes could explain whether his branded but non-registered basmati should attract 5 per cent tax under GST.

On paper, it is clear that there should not be a tax on it, but officials are not letting go of the matter. Couldn’t the Government have waited till the time these officials learned a thing or two about GST? That’s his question.

A fund of support

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s creation of a New India by 2022 has led to the Government identifying 115 backward districts for rapid transformation by 2022. And taking this forward is Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha.

On November 24, a detailed briefing of Prabhari officers was held under the chairmanship of the Cabinet secretary. Besides Prabhari officers, the meeting was also attended by secretaries of important central ministries.

And who are these Prabhari officers? For each of the districts, a senior-level official of the Centre of the rank of additional secretary/joint secretary have been nominated as Prabhari officer. Terming this an important initiative of making a difference in the lives of millions of citizens in these districts, Sinha has advised the Prabhari officers to immediately form a team with State representatives and bring convergence in their efforts.

He has made it clear that funds are not a constraint in this programme as enough money is already available under different schemes.

He advised the officers to also explore the availability of funds in the district mineral basket. In addition, he advised them to use flexi-funds which are significant in amount and are available under different schemes of the Government.

Repeated reminders

The Government has a habit of reminding journalists of its initiatives and objectives. The habit is so ingrained in its working that even the government arms appear to be aware of repetition.

A press statement regarding the rate at which the Government issued the third tranche of sovereign gold bonds said that this information has been issued in an earlier press release too.

Multiple hats

With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley being bogged down by many issues not only relating to the country’s economy but also political challenges, doing what Jaitley used to do earlier is Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Coal: speaking for the Government on key developments, including economic.

And so it was no surprise that when S&P’s latest rating that held India to its lowest investment grade came out, it was Goyal who was seen reacting. The ratings that would usually elicit a response from the FM or the ministry of finance had Goyal commenting and fire-fighting.

This is not the first time that Goyal has leapt to the Government’s rescue.

He had earlier led the debate on the Goods and Services Tax in the Rajya Sabha.

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