NO CORRUPTION!

INDIRECT TAX COLLECTION INCREASED

At last some good news started fl owing on the revenue part and the government would certainly be happy about it. During April-July 2014 period, indirect tax revenue collections reached Rs 1.54 lakh crore as against Rs 1.49 lakh crore earned during April-July 2013, an increase of 3.9 per cent. During the same period, service tax collection also increased by 16.4 per cent to Rs 50850 crore as against Rs 43693 crore earned during the same period last year. Interestingly custom duty has shown a decline of 2.2 per cent to Rs 55305 crore as against Rs 56526 crore earned during the same period last year. Central excise collection remained stagnant at Rs 48195 crore.

COAL SECTOR REFORMS GAIN MOMENTUM, 10% STAKE OF CIL WILL BE DIVESTED

The government has decided to allocate the area containing coal for specified end use through auction by competitive bidding. Also government is keen on off -loading its 10 per cent stake in Coal India soon. This equity will be off -loaded from government’s equity of 89.65 per cent. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with is independent charge for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, stated that, a Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for engagement of Mine Developer cum Operators in Coal India and its subsidiary companies was finalized for the augmentation of coal production in the country through PPP mode. This was done in consultation with Planning Commission and other concerned ministries and the same has been sent to CIL for its adoption by their Board.

Elaborating about the coming reforms in coal sector, the minister said that the government will talk to all stakeholders before taking up Coal Mines (Nationalization) Amendment Bill, 2000. Interestingly this bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in April 2000 to amend the Coal Mines Nationalization Act, 1973 to allow Indian companies in the private sector to mine coal in the country without the existing restriction of captive mining.

RTO TO BE SCRAPPED

In a bid to instill good governance and weed out corruption in transportation sector, government is going to scrap regional transport offices (RTOs). Minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said that the ministry is in a process to bring a new law to replace RTOs with a new and effi cient alternative system in coming months. At a program in Pune, Gadkari said: “There are some outdated laws and systems which need to be scrapped. Systems like RTOs will soon be abolished; there is no need for RTOs. We have prepared a law which will be introduced soon to replace RTOs.”

Indicating a total revamp of traffic system across nations, Gadkari said that money rules in RTOs. He further added that a new system will also be implemented to nail the culprits who violate traffic rules. Under this system, the traffic rule violator will be served a notice at his doorstep and if he goes to the court against the notice and loses the case, he will have to pay three times the fine.

THE CONSTITUTION OF MANAGEMENT COMMISSION RECEIVES PM’S APPROVAL

As announced by the Finance Minister in his budget speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently approved the constitution of Expenditure Management Commission. The commission will be headed by former RBI Governor Dr. Bimal Jalan and will submit its interim report before budget of FY16 and final report before the budget of FY17. Other members of the commission include Sumit Bose, former Finance Secretary and Dr. Subir Gokarn, Eminent Economist and former RBI Deputy Governor. Additional Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, will be an ex-officio member.