New Delhi: After mocking Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her comment on an “act of God”, former Union Minister P Chidambaram sarcastically called her “God’s messenger” on Saturday and asked how “mismanagement should be described. of the economy before the pandemic “.
“If the pandemic is an ‘act of God’, how do we describe the mismanagement of the economy during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 BEFORE the pandemic hit India? The Minister of Finance as Messenger of God, will you please answer? ”Chidambaram tweeted.
His response comes a day after Sitharaman referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as an “act of God” and said there could be a contraction in the economy.
“This year we are facing an extraordinary situation. We are facing an act of God in which we can even see a contraction of the economy,” he had said.
The congressional leader further stated that the two options given by the Modi government to states to close the goods and services tax (GST) compensation gap are “unacceptable.”
“The two options given by the Modi government to the states to close the GST compensation gap are unacceptable,” he said, adding that the financial burden falls entirely on the states under both options. “Under the first option, states are asked to borrow by pledging their accounts receivable in the future. The financial burden falls entirely on the states. Under the second option, states are asked to borrow from the window from RBI. It’s more market to borrow, just under a different name. Once again, the entire financial burden falls on the states, “MP Rajya Sabha tweeted.
He also said that the Center is exempting itself from any financial responsibility that is a “grave treason” as well as a direct violation of the law.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 41st meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council.
The Center has given two options to compensate states with Goods and Services Tax (GST) to cover the revenue shortfall, as the economy faces a contraction outlook in the current fiscal year due to the COVID-19 crisis. .
The first option provides a special window to states in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide ₹97,000 crore at a reasonable interest rate. This money can be repaid after five years from the collection of the tax.
The second option is that the entire GST compensation gap of ₹2.35 lakh this year can be satisfied by the states in consultation with the RBI.
This story was published from a news agency feed with no changes to the text. Only the title has been changed.
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