BY ET BUREAU | APR 24,
2017, 06.36 AM IST
NEW DELHI:After advancing the budget, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi may have set the ball rolling on another crucial reform – changing the
financial year to January-December. He asked states to take initiatives on the
proposal, which has already seen several suggestions. Modi also told the states
to seriously consider governance issues that are holding back speedier
development and to speed up capital expenditure and infrastructure creation to
lift growth.
“He said that there have been suggestions to have the
financial year from January to December. He urged states to take the initiative
in this regard,” according to an official statement released after the Niti
Aayog Governing Council meeting.
A panel headed by Shankar Acharya, former chief
economic advisor, to examine changing the financial year, has already submitted
its report to the government. India follows April-March as the financial year,
while globally the calendar year is the financial year.
“Good
governance leads to optimum utilisation of resources even when resources are
less than desired,” said Modi, who is the chairman of the Niti Aayog.
Reiterating that a constructive discussion has
begun on the subject of holding Union and state elections simultaneously, Modi
said, “India had for long suffered from economic and political mismanagement as
a result of which many good initiatives and schemes had failed to deliver the
anticipated results.”
The third meeting of the governing council at
the Rashtrapati Bhavan was attended by chief ministers of 27 states. They
included chief minsters of non-BJP ruled states such as Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka
and Tripura.
Consensus
on GST Lauded
West
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
skipped the meeting. Kejriwal was represented by Delhi’s deputy chief minister
Manish Sisodia.
Reiterating that there had been a 40% increase in overall
fund allocation to states between 2014-15 and 2016-17, Modi urged states to
speed up capital expenditure and infrastructure creation. He acknowledged the
contribution of states in pushing the country’s most comprehensive indirect
taxation reform – the Goods and Services Tax – keeping ideological and
political differences aside. “GST reflects the spirit of ‘one nation, one
aspiration, one determination’… Consensus on GST will go down in history as a
great illustration of cooperative federalism,” Modi said, reiterating that the
legislative arrangements at the state-level for GST should be put in place
without delay. While delivering the opening remarks, the Prime Minister said
that “Team India” has once again assembled to discuss and reflect on ways to
prepare the country for changing global trends. “Vision of ‘New India’ can only
be realised through the combined effort and cooperation of all states and their
chief ministers,” Modi said, according to the official statement. He urged all
stakeholders to decide goals for 2022 and work in mission mode towards
achieving them.
NITI INITIATIVES
Hailing the initiatives of the Aayog over the
past two years, Modi said the think tank’s long, medium and short-term action
plans would benefit all states. “Niti Aayog is working on a 15-year long-term
vision, seven-year medium term strategy and three-year action agenda,” he told
the meeting, which was also attended by Union ministers and senior officials.
Modi sought remarks from all chief ministers on a draft action plan unveiled by
the Aayog. Speaking of the historic change in the budget presentation date to
February 1 from February 28, the Prime Minister said this would enable timely
availability of funds at the beginning of the financial year. Stating that in a
country where agriculture income is exceedingly important, budgets should be
prepared immediately after the receipt of agriculture income for the year.
The Rangarajan Committee in 2011 had found
several important items of expenditure included as ‘non-plan’ and hence
neglected. “Hereafter the emphasis would be on distinguishing between
development and welfare expenditure on one hand, and administrative overheads
on the other,” he said, explaining the rationale behind doing away with the
distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure.
Modi noted that the theme of regional imbalance was raised by
many chief ministers. “He agreed that this has to be addressed on priority,
both nationally, and within states,” according to the official statement.
He urged all states to take interest in the
students of J&K after the issue was raised by the state’s chief minister.
Noting the invitation from the J&K chief minister, Modi urged states to
organise events there. Modi called upon states to use the government
e-market (GeM) to reduce corruption and increase transparency in
procurement. He reiterated that the use of BHIM and Aadhaar would result in
significant savings for states.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/58330066.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
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