The launch of the Goods and Services Tax amidst great fanfare, but without adequate preparation, marks a continuum with demonetisation and threatens the viability of millions of small and medium enterprises.
Missing from the event was the main opposition party, the Congress; M.P.s of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also chose to stay away, although its former Finance Minister from West Bengal was in attendance. For the Congress, which had only last year allowed the passage of the enabling legislation in Parliament, this was a turnabout of sorts. What explains this? It is quickly becoming clear that there is a continuum in the policies of the Modi government and its overall approach to policy-making that is targeting large sections of the people engaged in small- and medium-scale occupations. Seen from this perspective, the dramatic announcement of demonetisation and its ravaging impact on those engaged in small-scale and informal occupations, including the calamitous impact on agricultural product prices, has a connection to what is likely to happen in the name of the GST.
This story is from the July 21, 2017 edition of FRONTLINE.
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This story is from the July 21, 2017 edition of FRONTLINE.
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