Chidambaram asks Jaitley to vacate the chair, so that Congress can implement NYAY

The Indian National Congress’ manifesto is spread over sections and covers a gamut of issues, subjects and sectors. However, the underlying theme is to carry forward liberalisation with greater vigour.

We do believe that economic growth is linked to growing private investment, rising domestic consumption, rising exports, growing FDI, rising government expenditure specially in infrastructure. At the same time, it is true that the bottom 20% of the country’s people live in abject poverty.

Today, the top one percent adds more to their wealth everyday than the bottom 50% put together. This is a matter of shame and this needs to be wiped out. NYAY aims to do that. It is not a matter of ‘whether’ or ‘can’. It is a matter of ‘should we do it?”. And the Congress thinks “Yes and we must find a way”.

The point is to create wealth and guarantee welfare. Over the last 15 years, India’s GDP has risen from ₹32 lakh crore to ₹210 lakh crore. In a little over five years, we will reach ₹400 lakh crore. This wealth has to be shared more equitably.

Mr Arun Jaitley says, “NYAY can’t be implemented.” I accept that. So, vacate the chair. We will do it.

When we implemented MGNREGA, they said the same, that it can’t be done. And MGNREGA is one scheme that has not just benefitted the rural poor, the growth in consumption after MGNREGA made sure we did not suffer much during the Global Meltdown of 2008. Again, in 2008, when the Congress announced the farm loan waiver scheme, they said it can’t be done, that banks would be wiped out. Nothing like that happened and we did that in four months.

While Demonetisation devastated the poor people of the country, NYAY is the Congress’ way to remonetise them. The poor consume very little, much less than they should. Money in hand means they will be able to consume more. That will stimulate production, leading to more jobs and more income. This will also give mobility to the poor. Right now, they are stuck as there is no security for the family.

Once that is taken care of, a working member can take some risks, they can move someplace where there are more jobs. It gives them that option. Direct cash transfer will allow 25 crore people of India to escape poverty.

Next most important thing is GST and firing up the MSME sector. As much as 90% of all employment in India comes from MSMEs. And they have been devastated by Demonetisation and a strange GST regime. Just in Tamil Nadu, some 50,000 small units closed down, leading to a loss of at least 5 lakh jobs.

The Congress wants the MSMEs to grow. We want many who shut down their units to restart. So, as an incentive, we say that in the first 3 years of any new business, no compliance will be needed subject to one condition: payment of minimum wages. This will unleash the energy of the young people.

One has to realise that the GST rolled out by NDA is not GST. It has been amended more than 100 times. It is not possible to amend it any further. If the Congress comes to power, it will implement a new GST, what we are calling GST 2.0, that will have a single standard rate with input credit at every level.

Ask Mr Jaitley to show you one country in the world which has eight different rates. Goods of mass consumption will be zero-rated and people have to file single quarterly return for compliance. The reverse charge mechanism will be abolished. The E-way bill will also be abolished. We do not need a virtual check post. Sin goods will be outside the purview of GST.

The Congress has put forward its plans for India, for creating jobs, alleviating poverty, for development, for accelerating growth, for ensuring education and healthcare for our citizens.

However, Mr Modi has not talked about any of these issues. He is going on about “how my chest is expanding” and “Look how muscular I am.” The choice now lies with the people of India

Once that is taken care of, a working member can take some risks, they can move someplace where there are more jobs. It gives them that option. Direct cash transfer will allow 25 crore people of India to escape poverty.

Next most important thing is GST and firing up the MSME sector. As much as 90% of all employment in India comes from MSMEs. And they have been devastated by Demonetisation and a strange GST regime. Just in Tamil Nadu, some 50,000 small units closed down, leading to a loss of at least 5 lakh jobs.

The Congress wants the MSMEs to grow. We want many who shut down their units to restart. So, as an incentive, we say that in the first 3 years of any new business, no compliance will be needed subject to one condition: payment of minimum wages. This will unleash the energy of the young people.

One has to realise that the GST rolled out by NDA is not GST. It has been amended more than 100 times. It is not possible to amend it any further. If the Congress comes to power, it will implement a new GST, what we are calling GST 2.0, that will have a single standard rate with input credit at every level.

Ask Mr Jaitley to show you one country in the world which has eight different rates. Goods of mass consumption will be zero-rated and people have to file single quarterly return for compliance. The reverse charge mechanism will be abolished. The E-way bill will also be abolished. We do not need a virtual check post. Sin goods will be outside the purview of GST.

The Congress has put forward its plans for India, for creating jobs, alleviating poverty, for development, for accelerating growth, for ensuring education and healthcare for our citizens.

However, Mr Modi has not talked about any of these issues. He is going on about “how my chest is expanding” and “Look how muscular I am.” The choice now lies with the people of India