GST IN KERALA IN CONSULTANTS

GST IN KERALA IN CONSULTANTS 

The BJP and the union government are happy that the roadblocks to the GST Bill have now been removed and that the country will soon become a single market with a single tax; but the inherent contradiction in the economic homogenisation of India cannot be shrugged off with two neighbouring states - Tamil Nadu and Kerala - expressing diametrically opposite viewpoints.

What's more, while the CPM is still sticking to its dissenting note mainly on the point of the Bill's threat to India's federalism, its government in Kerala is quite eager.

Is a Bill with such a defective political gene good for the country, or rather inter-state relations? Tamil Nadu's grouse will be permanent because it believes that the Bill will cost them a perpetual annual loss of more than Rs 9000 crore, while Kerala is privately rejoicing because it will get more money. A genuine case of a hardworking Tamil Nadu feeling discriminated against because it produces wealth, while its lazy neighbour Kerala gets rewarded because it consumes what others produce.