Sir — This refers to the report, “178 items off 28 per cent GST slab” (November 11). Opposition parties and other critics of the Modi Government were saying that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) was implemented in haste and, hence, people are
facing problems. They even suggested that it should have been implemented a couple of months later.
It may, however, be recalled that the GST has come into force after 17 long years of debate. It is considered to be India’s biggest tax reform since independence which unified more than a dozen central and State levies.
Any new system has teething troubles whenever implemented. The peculiarity of the GST is the Centre-State mechanism — the GST Council — to consider the problems and difficulties of the traders and consumers and empowered to take decisions.
Decisions of heavy rate cut in the GST of about 200 items of mass consumption, easing the norms for filing returns etc, in the latest GST Council meeting, has come as a huge relief for traders and consumers. In earlier Council meetings too, traders and consumers were given concessions. It is good that the GST is open to continuous reviewing and resolving the problems of traders and consumers and the States as well.