Speeches

June 23, 2017

Speaking on Smooth roll-out of GST, in New Delhi

Thank you Mr Pujari, Mr Suresh Kumar, Mr Mahajan, Mr Jay….colleagues from different Ministries, PSUs and I believe 75 associations today engaged with the various Ministries present today, a very very warm welcome to you. We have been hearing so much about the GST that it almost sounds like the independent movement once again. And I do remember reading, of course, I was not born at that time when the independence movement was taking place, at that time of time also there were some naysayers who would say that oh, but is India ready to be independent. There was a school of thought, which was very concerned about India’s ability to handle democracy, about ability to handle independence.

And in one sense, the GST today is a reform, a historic reform which has the potential to completelychange the way we have done business over the last 70 years, the way the tax structure has evolved over seven decades and, to my mind, can lead to complete independence from discrimination, from harassment, from unfair competition. And, while some people raise certain concerns, some of them are genuine undoubtedly, one will have to look at it like (Inaudible). After all, we can keep wishing that we learn to swim, we can keep admiring the water from a distance, we can keep arguing what the temperature of that water should be, and everybody will have their own personal cases and preferences. Some may feel that you …… the skin at maybe 40 degrees, another may feel that he is happy up to 45 degrees, another may say no, I like cold water I want it to be 25 degrees. One can keep having a lot of argument, and in any case, what was that book? The Argumentative India! We love to argue all of us.

But, the fact is unless you jump into the water, you will never learn how to swim and in that sense, at the outset, let me make it very clear that this roll-out of GST is going to happen on 1 July. There are no ifs and buts, and possibilities of further discussion or engagement on this subjects, and more so because whether you do it on 1st July this year or you do it on 1st July 2018 or 19’ or 22’, or any time before or after that, the issues are going to be the same, are going to be broadly similar. There is going to be a set of people who have suddenly realised that post GST a lot of illegalities will not work, who suddenly realise that in this regime, there are so many opportunities to get caught in the system if you are trying to game the tax regime that you do hear murmurs, you do your voices coming in from different areas.

We take cognizance of all that we hear, all that is said, the department officials are also continuously monitoring social media, responses of various trade associations, specific industry segments, all of that is being very very carefully monitored, addressed. The GST Council has met on more occasions than I thought was expected. And I must say, being a chartered accounted myself, I have been watching from outside, the way this whole process has been systematically addressed, the way the whole system has been prepared is truly remarkable.

I, frankly, would not have designed a system as good as this, even if I had spent five years on this subject. I have become a fan of the officials and the honorable Finance Minister for the painstaking effort with which they have addressed each and every issue that came across, that we all came across during the preparations for GST. And to my mind, the sincerity and the long-long-long number of hours, man-hours, man days, engagement, consultation that has gone into preparing this GST is something that this nation needs to be proud about, this nation will remember for years and years and decades to come, possibly, for generations to come. Because, I think this has the potential and can become the game changer to actually impact 125 crore Indians, because, ultimately, and the whole GST regime has as its focus, the consumer, the customer is the king. How can we reach the benefits of a fair and equitable tax regime to the consumer, how can we ensure consumer interests are protected, how can we make sure that in this nation where liberty and quality is our hallmark of our constitution, everybody gets an equal chance to do business in an honest, transparent and fair manner.

That truly is the defining feature of the GST regime as it’s been brought out when they say it’s one nation, one tax, one market. It truly is going to be another independence day for India as we roll out this new regime, independence from a lot of nonsense that all of us have faced over the last many years. I have been in the private sector for more than 27 years before I got into government. And I have faced all the difficulties that each one of you has in your mind. We all have faced difficulties when we were dealing with eight, or 10 or 12 different departments who were all getting subsumed under the GST regime. We have all faced difficulties of multiple returns, multiple assessments, multiple raids, classification problems, harassment by officials and despite all of that, probably we got used to so many of these things that when there is an attempt to get rid of all of these problems and free you from all these difficulties, somehow a lot of people are not able to appreciate the huge benefits that this good regime to brings in.

I will try to address few of the major concerns that are often spoken about. But one thing is certain, any transition, and certainly, a transition as big as this one will have certain difficulties, certain pain points in the initial period. We have to be prepared for that, accept that. There is no perfect one-size-fits-all solution to the whole regime. And as I said unless we jump into the water and experience what it is like to be in this new regime, we are never going to be able to really, either enjoy the fruits of it or understand the huge difference it will make to our lives for the better.

Of course, we are going to launch it on the 30th at midnight as you are all are aware now. At parliament, it is probably the second round of independence, independence from the drudgery of taxation systems, from harassments, from terrorism of taxation, multiplicity of taxes, cascading impact of taxes on consumers. And, to my mind, the 85 lakh registered tax dealers that are there in the excise, VAT, service tax and all of these systems today will at least multiply by two times, possibly, go beyond two crores over the next two or three years.

A lot of care and concern has been taken to make sure that all small traders or small manufacturers, businessmen with turnover up to 20 lakhs, will kept out of this regime. There is the compounding scheme up to75 lakhs where a manufacturer can pay only 2%, a trade can pay only 1% of his turnover and not have to keep too many records except a sales register.

The biggest beauty of this entire GST regime that has been beautifully drafted by the hon’ble Finance Minister, the Finance Secretary and their team of Ministers and Secretaries of all the state. And let me be clear, this is not something that I believe we have done, the BJP or the central government has done. This is truly an example of collaborative and cooperative federalism working at its best. The entire nation, every state government, for that matter, every political party in the country even though they may not be in government in any state has had a collaborative role to play in this part. After all, getting it passed in the central, both the houses and in all the states, unanimously, reflects that even a party which has been wiped out in may be a Assembly Election or a Lok Sabha election and has some residual members of the parliament in the Rajya Sabha also had an equal say or had a role in this roll-out of GST.

And if you reflect, there has never been, and may be in Arnab’words never ever been, any such massive transformational reform that has had such unanimity across the country. Of course, some people are I don’t know for what reason finding even fault with Amitabh Bacchan becoming the brand ambassador of GST in its present form. I read in the newspaper this morning I can’t for the life of me understand what the logic of that opposition is when their central leadership and everybody is engaged in making GST happen. I think the Ministers from Karnataka or Himachal were at the forefront of making  GST a success. So, maybe it’s a few stray cases of people who are trying to whip up passion for local benefit or trying to get the traders to or small business people to misunderstand the benefits of GST.

But, truly, think about it. It’s a celebration of India’s federal polity and which is why this entire credit of this new tax regime is a shared credit of the entire political system, and the entire bureaucracy of the country, and will remain a shared legacy of all of India working as team India. So, in that sense, there is complete unanimity on the tax regime, on the GST, on the structure that has been created. All decisions have been taken by the consensus in the GST Council. It’s not as if you make an appeal to me that reduce the tax rate on solar panels and I get it done from the hon’ble Finance Minister. It will have to be discussed by the GST Council and they will decide, so much as fly ash manufacturers of bricks are very concerned that, you know, our rate is whatever, 18 or 12 percent, and clay bricks are lower. Now let’s get the tax rate, and the system, the procedures out of my way. It’s no more relevant, we are not discussing that at all. We will cross the bridge as we come to it. We will find solutions. The GST Council is going to continuously engage and meet. And, just as they have been responsive so far, to whatever has been brought to their attention.

I will give you one example, you know, when the lottery thing came up, at that point they came and gave me also representation, I, obviously, forward it to the hon’ble Finance Minister. And, I am myself had forwarded it,…. Don’t even touch it with a barge pole. It is politically very sensitive and people feel that you are giving any benefit to the lottery trade, but still the GST Council discussed it, they were that fair. Main representation ke saath bol raha hoon, is ko haath mat lagao, nahi ye bohut(inaudible), par fir bhi unhone put up kiya and kuch na kuch decision liya…so that has been the level of fairness.

Of course, I hear some concerns. So, I am just trying to address each one of them as I speak, why petroleum is not there, why alcohol is not there. Now, these are things we all know, we read in the papers every day. The government wanted that this should also be a part of the regime, it could not get a consensus in the GST Council. May be it will happen after a few days, a few months, who knows.

You remember when VAT was introduced , a few states didn’t join. When they realized to their detriment that everybody’s revenues are going up, how quickly they came under the VAT regime. So, we should take the GST in that same spirit, and then it will evolve.

Let’s say, the cable manufacturers, they have been at my back all these last few weeks, ‘our rate is too high, we will die and this, blah blah blah.’ First of all, should the situation emerge? You know, they have taken care that every rate is determined with direct and the hidden taxes, cascading taxes, carefully calculated and then fit into the nearest 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%……that care has been taken to very minor detail. पर आप लोग भी तो अपना अपना व्यापार चलाते हैं, business करते हैं, छोटा सा business, छोटा बड़ा जो भी, जिसका 1000 करोड़ का हो, जिसका एक करोड़ का हो, problems तो सबकी same आती हैं |

कल में बैंगलोर में बता रहा था, when I started my small business as a small scale entrepreneur. I was very young at that time, maybe 17-18, मैंने काम से काम 100 MIDC ऑफिस मुंबई में अँधेरी में, anybody from Mumbai will know Chakala में, मैंने खुद, तभी पटेल, who is now Governor of one of the North-Eastern states was deputy CEO मैंने खुद काम से काम 100 चक्कर MIDC office में काटे, only to get an allotment of 2,930 sq mtrs of land, 100 trips, not less.

Any chartered accountants will tell you, कि कितने धक्के इनकम टैक्स ऑफिस के खाने पड़ते हैं | If somebody here is under Central Excise, I hope you will pardon me for this comment since you have come from that field, but anybody who deals with Central Excise knows and I personally  experience it ladies and gentlemen कि तुम सुबह फैक्ट्री पहुंचो और वह बाहर सफ़ेद Ambassador खड़ी हो जिसमें में वह … लगाते हैं बड़ा proudly – Central Board of Central Excise and Customs and… तो लगता है मर गए, आज पता नहीं घर रात को जायेंगे या नहीं |

We all have experienced all that, right? That’s what we are trying change. Aur Jab itna massive change, pure desh bhar mein parivartan of such a huge dimension hota hai to aap sochiye apke business ki problems aap solve karte karte raat ki need udd jati hai. To saubhavik hai ki itna bada change hoga to parivartan ko thora time dena padega, thori takleefein ayengi, hosakta hai computer system char baar crash bhi hojaye, so what!! We will find solutions. After all, a problem is only a problem till you find a solution to that problem. And, there is nothing in this world that we can’t find a solution to.

If you recall that GST ki baat Vajpayee ji ne 2002 ya 2003 mein ki thi, 2007 mein Mr Chidambaram ne shayad isko aage badhaaya, budget mein charcha ki, 2011 mein shayad kanoon laye. Par shayad vishvasniyata nahin thi isliye sabki aham sehmati nahin ban payi. Abb, Modi ji aur Jaitley ji ne sabko saath mein liya, sabke concerns ko address kiya. Ek prakar se har ek state ki apni apni domestic issues ko sambhalte hue to get such large consensus, obviously,  meaning something has been done right. After all, they are all your elected representatives, you have all voted and supported all these people in Government today – state, centre, local bodies, all of them.

So something must be right about it. So one thing, let’s be clear. The rates have been well-thought out, procedures have been debated at ……………. And, ultimately, one will have to jump in the water and learn to swim. And in that process we will fine tune our movements.  You know, they call it the butterfly movement, and this and that, all those movements will get fine tuned as we start learning to swim. Acha, suppose cable industry ka malum pade, ki bhai pehle revenue hazaar crore ata tha, teen haazar karod ho gaya, as they are claiming ki teen guna ho gaya tax. Whereas they are not realising it ki pehle cascading level pe kitne taxes the. But, suppose teen guna ho gaya, to theek hai GST Council can again sit, discuss. Reverse also holds rule. Jiska pehle 1000 crore ata tha who 300 reh gaya to punah vichar karne padega ki chori badh gayi hai ya rate theek nahin hai.

To do tarfa hota haina ye to. But let’s play it, let’s ….. And the best way to get your rate reduced is to persuade your entire industry to pay your taxes honestly. Mein kal bata raha tha ki teen prakar ke problems aate hai hum sab businessmen ko. Pehla to ye hota hai ki mein karna to nahinh chahta hoon chori par mujhe karni padti hai jabardasti. You are all comfortable with hindi na? Or I stick to English only?  I am ok with both ways. I am trying to improve my Hindi speaking skills. Pehla to vyakti wo hota hai jisko chori karni nahin hai lekin zabardasti karni padti hai – adhikariyon ko rishwat dene ke liye, politicians ko rishwat dene ke liye, kabhi kabhi biwi ke liye jewelry kharidne ke liye, jo bhi ho.

Doosra vyakti wo hota hai jo DNA mein hi uske, uske system mein hi hai ki chori karna hai, bhaiya tax nahin pay karna hai. Aur teesra vyatki wo hota hai jo anjaane mein galti karta hai, jisko ab wo dosa bechta hai Khadkogar station ke baahar, chota sa vyapaar karte karta karte usko realize nahin hua mera turnover 2 crore rupee ka ho gaya hai. Jab tak income tax ne watch rakha 30 din aur realize kiya My God, ye to 15-17 lakh rupaiy ka turnover 1 mahine mein kar gaya. 200 rupaiy ka ek dosa, kitne 500 dose ya 400 dose bech ke. They suddenly realize ye to 2 crore turnover ho gaya saal ka. Lekin usne anjaane mein kiya, gareeb aadmi, chota thela shuru kiya tha, became successful, that is the entrepreneurial spirit of India.

But look how GST impacts all three of you. GST coupled with our other measures. For example, the first type of person jo karna nahin chahta hai, karna padta hai, wo agar imandaari se apna sales invoice har ek enter kar jaye, nothing else. But itna pakka rakhe ki main ek bhi sales invoice chodunga nahin. All my sales invoices I will enter in the system. Uske baad usko koi chinta karne ki zarurat nahin, koi rishvat bhi mange, he can tell him, asli shadb to alag hai, yahan nahin use kar sakte, but get lost. Bus sales invoice imandaari se enter kare, politicians tang karein to aajkal electoral bonds lane ki kalpana hai jisse election aaye aur aaplog chahte ho ki isko support hai to election bonds deke dedo. Par kisiko maharbaani karke cash dena band karo, ab to 2000 se zyada doge cash mein to aap bhi takleef mein aawoge. If anybody is caught giving a political donation above Rs 2000, he gets into equal trouble, by the way.

So, we are trying to clean the system in an overall context. Make the nation honest, why should we not be like, maybe one of the European, Scandinavian countries with 100%-99% tax compliance. But jisko zabardasti karna padta tha wo abhi himmat se khada rahe, hamari associations unka haath thaame agar koi officer harass karta hai. Aajkal to social media badh gaya hai, tweet kardo to officer ki neend hi kharab ho jaaye, ya politician ki bhi neend kharab ho jaayegi. Sachi tweet karna, jhoota mat karna, fansa mat dena kisi ko.

But, honestly, if we only put our sales invoices into the system, after that we have nothing to worry. Ye jo bhram, … failai jaa rahi hai ki 3-3 return har mahine, 37 return har saal. Mujhe to hairani hoti hai ki itne padhe likhe log, itne associations ismain involved hai, itne saare training classes chal rahe hain TV par, sab jagah desh bhar mein, 4600 to in logon ne programmes kiye hain desh bhar mein, sab data website par hai kahan kahan hue hain. Institute of Chartered Accountants ne 200 helpline centres khole, CII, Companies Secretaries, ICWA, all are involved in giving free service.

But, there is a segment who doesn’t want to this to come. Kyunki, agar aap abhi apne sales invoice imandaari se nahin dikhaoge to bahut saralta se computer se pakda jayega, officer ki zarurat hi nahin hai. System kya design kiya hai inhone, aur bada khoobsurti se design kiya hai, I must compliment them . Har ek vyakti apna sales invoice dale aur ab to sales invoice to ham sab any case enter karte haina apne sales register mein, koi additional work nahin hai. Ulte abhi to hum koi excise ke liye alag tarike se, sales tax ke liye alag tarike se, entry tax ke liye Mumbai mein jaise New Mumbai mein hai, kai jagah hai. Alag alag cheez ke liye alag alag humne returns file karne padte hain aur alag alag entry karni padti hai.

Of course, income tax ne aaj kale k aur cheez dekhi hai, ki bank ko alag balance sheet di jaati thi, excise ko alag aur sales tax ko alag. Aur ye sab cheezon ko aakhir kabhi na kabhi to address karna padega na. To aapko sirf sales invoice enter karna hai 10 tareekh, following month ki 10 tareekh tak. Of course, pehle 2 mahine ke liye to humne September 10 tareekh ya 5th September tak time diya hai. Thoda computer glitches, computer testing, data testing, wo bhi ho jayega, aapke bhi haath mein aajayega. Aakhir pehli baar jab email use kiya to aasan nahin tha, aajkal to cut-in, cut-out email use karte hain. To aapne ek baar sales invoice enter kar diya 10 tareekh tak, to wo automatically populate hoga as a purchase invoice jisko bhi aapne becha. To agar maine in bhai sahib ko becha 1000 rupay ka kuch samaan aur uspar 18% tax, 180 rupay lagaye, to inke number GST number mein automatically purchase register bante jaayenge. Aur 10 tareekh ke baad 11 tareekh ko jab ye dekhenge ki meri purchase register mein kya kya invoice aaye hain to inko dhyaan mein aayega ki Archana ji se bhi maine ek maal liya tha unhone to enter nahin kiya hai. To yeh turant Archana ji ko contact kar sakte hain. Ab off late to mobile call almost free hota jaa raha hai, to kharcha bhi nahin hoga agar kisi ko takleef hai phone karne mein. Aur ye thode dinon ki baat hai, ahiste ahiste ye sab zarooratein khatm ho jayenge. Archana ji bolengi maine to enter kiya tha to dhyaan mein aayega GST number theek se nahin enter kiya.

Ya, dhyaan mein aayega ki inhone enter hi nahin kiya to wo jaldi se enter kar denge nahin to pakdi jayengi. Kyunki inhone sales invoice enter karke ab ye change nahin kar sakte. System mein aagaya hai, ab they cannot have a sathghaat ki ab yaar ye enter mat kardo, ye nikaal do. They system has captured the sales invoice. To, she will have to enter the sales invoice or correct her mistake. And, if she still refuses to do that, whenever the matching takes place in the system, she will be caught ki you are not declaring your data correctly, your sales correctly.

15 tareekh tak shayad samay hai aapke paas ye matching wagaira karne ka, uske baad aapka GSTN month ka sales invoices hi haina? To wo to aapko in any case normal course mein enter karna hai, koi return nahin bharna hai, sirf sales invoices enter karne hain baaki to sab computer par automatic  ho jayega. GSTC 2A aapko automatically populate hoke purchase register ban jayegi, jo so-called second return hai jispar humein kuch nahin karna. Donon ko match karke aapki tax liability kya hai wo bhi computer se apne aap generate ho jayega, aapko to tax pay karne ki zimmedari hai sirf.

To vastav mein ye total, if I may use the word nonsense hai, this so-called false propaganda ki 3-3 return har mahine, 37 return saal ke, kaise karenge falaana dhimka. Hum main se ek bhi is room mein aisa nahin jo 100 se kam return pehle bharta hoga, alag alag tarike se, harassment ko ek minute ke liye chod bhi do tum. Aapko to ek bhi nahin bharna hai, aapko sales register maintain karna hai. To jo pehle time ke log hain unke liye to bahut spasht hai, aap 100% beimaani band karo, koi aur beimaani karta hai to whistleblower bano, aur agar whistleblower bhi nahin banne ko tayyar ho to doob maro, aur kya bol sakte hain. Kyunki aap agar apne gutka interests nahin protect karte ho to uski zimmedari sarkaar ya koi bhi adhikaari nahin le sakta.

Aur, ultimately, ek market mein 2 vyapaari chori karte hain taxes to uska impact baaki imaandar 8 vyapaariyon pe hota haina, phir competition unfair hogayi, jo imandaari se tax pay kar raha hai wo suffer karta hai, jo chori karta hai wo competitive ho jaata hai, zyada sasta hai uska samaan, uski dukaan acchi chalegi, aapki kharaab chalegi. Whistleblower bano, unko pakadwao to sabke liye level playing field ho jayega, aur level playing field mein phir business kiska grow karega, jiski quality of service acchi ho, quality of goods accha ho.

Ultimately, competition should be on your service, on the quality of your product, not on your ability to evade taxes, which is why we are trying to bring through GST. Of course, jo second category ke log hain jinko by DNA ya zabardasti chori karni hai, ye system aisa designed hai ki kidhar na kidhar uska data aajayega. Udahran ke liye, samjho truck se bhi koi maal bech rha hai aur truck wale ne .. jo bilty banti hai, whatever it’s called in English I don’t know. Bilti pahunchi nahin hai, agar wo truck ki receipt, goods receipt usne nahin banaaya kyunki you are in connivance  aur usko petrol to lagega, diesel to lagega, usko bhi laalach aayega ki main income mein kharche warche dikhaon, to kidhar na kidhar dhyaan mein aayega ki ye truck chala to tha is route par diesel bharte bharte lekin koi bilti nahin bani to gadbad kya hai?

System has been so beautifully designed, with so many checks and balances ki kidhar na kidhar chain mein, if anybody is from the steel industry, pardon me, kyunki main kal RIAL ka plant dekh ke aaya to mujhe fresh yaad hai because my family comes from the steel industry. Pehle zamaane mein kya hota tha, aur naam nahin lunga par Punjab ke kuch shahar iske liye bade famous hai, ki aap scrap bhi cash mein kharido, bijli ka bill bhi mat bharo usko rishvat do, electrodes bhi cash mein kharidlo, labour ke record to waise hi is desh mein dikhaane ki parampara hi nahin hai. Aur phir sales bhi apna cash mein karo, koi excise nahin, koi sales tax nahin, kuch nahin. To poori value chain humne master kardi thi to cheat.

Ab durbhagya se wo sab value chain mein har ek vyakti alag alag hota hai, to agar kidhar ek jagah pakde gaye to uske saath you could settle the matter. Ab chakkar kya hai ki wo value chain itni lambi hai ki usmain ek bhi jagah par kidhar kisi ne chook kar di aur system mein aagaya to aap pakde jaoge. Yahi dukh dard kuch logon ko takleef de raha hai jiske liye kuch strike bhi ho rahi hai, kuch aalochna bhi ho rahi hai, kuch demand bhi ho rahi hai ki bhaiya July 1st ko mat shuru karo, aur defer karo, blame humein kiya jaa raha hai, ye vastavik sach bataaya maine aur hum main se is room mein ek bhi vyakti aisa na hoga, bade se bade company ka kyon na ho jisne ye donon cheezein naa face ki hon. Main third category mein nahin jaa raha hoon anjaane mein kisi ne galti ki hai to ye GSTN mein hum aisa karenge jisse naye log jo ismain judte hain aur mera andaaza hai 2 crore log ho jayenge 85 lakhs mein, ….. wo sab judein, purani baatein bhool-chook karke ab aage imandaari se kaam karein. That is our approach.

Demonetization ke time aapko yaad hoga manya pradhanmantri ji ne ye baat desh ke samaksh rakhi thi ki bhai abhi bhi mouka hai, imandaar vyavastha mein aajao, hum postmortem nahin karenge but aage ke liye imandaar ho jao. Aur ye, these are not disjointed steps ladies and gentlemen. Aap is sarkaar ke 3 varsh ka karyakaal, ek ek kaam dekhiye. Systematically, demonetization was a part of this attack on corruption and black money, but without demonetization and encouragement to join the formal sector, GST would have failed. But, if we don’t bring GST, then several of our other steps will also fail. After all, ye charcha to hota hi hai arre aajkal to cash wapis freely milta hai to demonetization se kya farak padta hai. Things are back to normal. Poore murakh hain jo is tarike se sochte hain inko abhi dhyaan hi nahin aaya hai ki pradhanmantri modi ji zara 2 step aage sochte hain, nahin to itne bade desh ke pradhanmantri, itna lokpriya pradhanmantri koi nahin ban sakta. Haan, wo to parivar se bhi nahin aate hain ki parivar ke hain isliye pradhanmantri banein hain.

So, the reality is that these are all steps in a journey and it’s an opportunity for all of us to be a part of this journey. Of course, this is a great step towards transparency – GST. It can really transform India’s economy and I have only one appeal to make for all of you, almost in conclusion, because those who have attended my programmes in the past know that I am a very talkative fellow and I like to talk a lot. So, pardon me for being a little long but I wanted to set the context of the engagement, still you can ask any questions. It’s an open house and I won’t be as rude as I sometimes can be to silly questions. I love intelligent questions but I still control my…..

But in conclusion, I just want to share one thought with all of you and I hope you will take this back to all your members since most of you are industry leaders also elected by your industry to lead your chambers, to lead your industry associations. Kabhi aap mein se kisi ne socha hai ki wo jo tax aap evade karte hain usse aap kisi gareeb ke pet pe laat mar rahe hao, kabhi aap mein se kisi ne socha hai ki jab bijli ka bill imandaari se nahin bharte hain to shayad wahi bijli imandaar vyavastha mein, agar aapne apne bijli ka bill bhara hota, DISCOM ki haalat wo nahin hoti jo aaj hai, shayad DISCOM is sthiti mein hoti ki kis garib ke ghar mein bijli pahunch sakti thi.

Kya aapne realize kiya ki aap logon mein se aur aap mein se kai logon ne mujhe vishvas hai Give It Up mein apni LPG subsidy chodi hogi. Do you realize aapne kitni badi deshbhakti ka kaam kiya hua hai LPG subsidy chod ke. Kyunki humne wo paisa koi fiscal deficit mein nahin adjust kiya, usse garibon ko muft mein LPG connection diya jaa raha hai jisse un mata bahanon ko dhunwe ki aag se apni swastha ko kharab karna aur apne poore jeevan ko kharab karna na pade. Aap sochiye, ho sakta hai ki paisa jab sarkaar ke paas aayega thodi bahut wasteful expenditure bhi ho sakta hai, ho sakta hai. Par itna to aapne dekha ki gat 3 varshon mein kaise transparency aa rahi hain, bhrashtachar khatm ho raha hai, kaise honest government chal sakti hai, kaise public welfare sarkaar ka Kendra bindu ho sakta hai, gareeb kalyan ek prakar se ……………… ki tarah log sarkaar mein dekh sakte hain ki garibon ka jeevan kaise sudhre, garibon ka bhavishya kaise behtar ho.

Aur jab hm tax pay karte hain mujhe ek-do jagah pata nahin kisi ne poocha tha, I don’t remember, kis occasion par, shayad demonetization ke time par hi. Some traders, or some associations had come to me. And one of them asked me, ‘mere ko kya incentive hai, why should I pay my taxes, mujhe kya milna hai? Har ek cheez hum life mein khud apne liye kuch milne ke liye to nahin karte haina? Aisa hi kuch ho to phir, Finance Minister ko kya mila, 100 karod se zyada unke practice mein har saal kama sakte the. Kabhi kabhi to ye bhi sochna padega ki maine kya diya aur meri wajah se kya hua. Aakhir hum mein se bhi kai log kuch na kuch, koi na koi gaon se aate honge, kabhi Bangalore mein main baat kar raha tha to shayad mere ek adhikari mere saath the jo bata rahe the ki wo khud kerosene lamp mein padhke apni poore taleem, apni poori education unhone payi hai.

My own father studied under a street light. My grandmother, and I am not ashamed to say it, had to work as a domestic help so that my father could study, and so that I can possibly be where I am. Someday we will have to all think. What is our contribution to nation? Hum bahut gaali dete hain, desh ka bura haal hai, gandagi hai, bhrashtachar hai, gareebi hai, koi sadak pe aajata hai gareeb to usko hakaal ke gaadi se bhagaate hain, usko accha nahin lagta hai wo aapse bheek mangna, koi slums mein rehta hai, usko accha nahin lagta hai slums mein rehna usko bhi ek izzatdaar, acche ghar mein rehne ki iksha rehti hai. Aur aajkal to accountability, transparency itni hai ki sarkaarein bhi jo aap tax pay karte ho uske liye jawabdaar rehte hain, they have to give an account for every rupee they spend. CAG, CBI, CBC to karega ye kaam, wo nahin karenge to Arnab Goswami baaki kaam karenge, ya Times Now wale kaam karenge, ya India Today wale kaam karenge.

But, honestly, reflect on do you want to be a part of the making of developed India, and can we develop India unless it’s a team effort of each one of us. Can Prime Minister Modi or each of their 28 Chief Ministers, and Union Territory heads develop India without the support of each one of us in this room. It could be officials, it could be businessmen, it could be manufacturers, traders, service providers, anybody. Ultlimately, if you have to create new opportunities for business, expand the economy, expand the business, expand public spending, encourage foreign investment in this country, we will have to bring competitiveness. We will have to bring equality, honesty, integrity, transparency, it’s only then that we can truly create a robust foundation on the back of which India will develop not only as a great nation, not only as an economically great nation but truly as a superpower, as a sone ki chidiya, that each one of us in our………………..

Ends.

 

Next Speech

June 22, 2017 Speaking on 'GST Rollout' in New Delhi.

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