All those sceptics who felt dual GST would never work in India without a constitutional amendment must now hang their heads in shame. The empowered committee of the group of state finance ministers has not only agreed to the scheme, they have even agreed to having just two rates of taxation — one for essential commodities and the other for non-essentials. Of course there will be differences on what constitutes ‘essential’ in different states, but the most important matter is that the states have agreed on the principle.
A joint working group has been set up to work out the modalities of the constitutional changes required, but since the state finance ministers have approved it, this is now more procedural than anything else. The credit for this, as well as for the move to shift towards VAT has to be given to none other than Asim Dasgupta who has brought about a consensus among states finance ministers each time.
Sanjay Joshi, Noida
