Reminiscent of India’s tryst with destiny at the midnight of August 15, 1947, Parliament’s historic Central Hall will witness an hour-long function on the intervening night of June 30-July 1 to mark the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) where President Pranab Mukherjee —who had piloted the first Constitutional Amendment Bill to bring in GST in 2011 when he was the Finance Minister during the previous UPA regime — will share the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion.
“late on June 30, a programme will be organised in Central Hall of Parliament. The launch will take place exactly at the midnight,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Also on dais will be former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, apart from Vice-President Hamid Ansari and lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
All lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members have been invited as also Chief Ministers and State Finance Ministers, said Jaitley, adding that all the members — past and present — chairmen of the GST Council and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers have been invited.
Jaitley said that businesses cannot give any excuse for not being ready as enough time was given to them for preparation. However, implementation of the GST, which will unify more than a dozen separate levies to create a single market, may result in “some disruption” and “technological glitches” initially as traders and the smallest of businesses will have to file returns online, he added.