In a major initiative to cleanse political parties, the Union Government will shortly announce electoral bonds scheme, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday in Bengaluru. He was addressing State BJP workers here ahead of Assembly polls.
He said, “This year, before the Budget was being prepared, the Prime Minister had told us to take some steps in the Budget to cleanse the political parties, and out of that the electoral bonds scheme was born.” “We are in the process of shortly announcing the nature of the scheme,” he added.
Jaitley said in the last three years, not even a single allegation of corruption has been leveled against the Modi Government, for it has divested itself from discretionary power and allowed the system to decide all matters.
“Why is it that, in the last three years, not a single allegation of corruption has been made against the GovernmentIJ The reason is simple ... The Government has divested itself from all discretionary powers, and left everything to be decided by the system,” he added.
“We have allocated spectrum and coal blocks, but nobody comes to meet us ... the system, the market mechanism decide it, and hence there is no scope for misuse of power and corruption,” he said.
In the Budget of 2017-18, the Government had proposed amendment to the RBI Act to enable issuance of electoral bonds. lauding Narendra Modi for his decisiveness, Jaitley said unlike the previous Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh), Modi has been decisive in taking steps with regard to demonetisation, surgical strike against Pakistan and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). On GST, he said from July 1 onwards India will become a uniform market, where goods and services will flow freely across the country and curb evasions.s
He expressed confidence that the party would put full throttle effort to come back to power in Karnataka under the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa.
He said “Yeddyurappaji is in the driver’s seat. Under his leadership, everybody will unitedly put his heart and soul and bring the BJP back to power. Karnataka will become part of an aspirational India which does not believe in caste and dynastic politics, but performance of the Government,” he said.
Referring to GST, Jaitley said from July One onwards India will become a uniform market, where goods and services will flow freely across the country and curb evasions.
Earlier in a function Jaitley said Goods and Services Tax (GST) will bring positive economy and promote efficient tax collection in the country. Speaking after inaugurating the new campus of National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) here, he said GST will check tax evasions and boost the pace of national development. NACIN is mandated to impart training to officers of Central Board of Excise and Customs, besides officers of VAT department in the new GST regime.
He said ''Tax complient society is important for any country's economy to progress and GST will promote it by checking evasions.”
He said merger of various indirect taxes in one price or one slab was in itself a monumental taxation change. This will call for the taxpersons to upgrade their skills and knowledge. NACIN, Bengaluru, was established in 2002 for training the officers of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax posted in Karnataka and Kerala States. It has moved into a new complex constructed at a cost of RS 49 crore.
On Sunday Jaitley who is also the Defence Minister called for optimal defence preparedness in view of the persistent security threats from neighbours. Jaitley was speaking at the inauguration of the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Challakere, Chitradurga district of Karnataka . He formally dedicated to the nation the Rs 1,300-crore facility for testing defence aircraft, including unmanned air vehicles.
The testing range has been developed by the Aeronautical Devel opment Establishment (ADE) in collaboration with other Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories.