New Delhi: Amid speculation on an impending Cabinet expansion, after the BJP’s sweeping victory in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held an almost three-hour meeting with his council of ministers. While sources privy to details denied that any discussions took place on expanding the team, the PM is learnt to have discussed threadbare the strategy on how to spread awareness about the Goods and Services Tax regime among the general public with his ministers.
Sources said that at the marathon meeting, held at the Prime Minister’s residence, two presentations were made — one on GST and the other on Digital India — by the ministers. They, however, added that no discussion was held on expanding the Cabinet at the meeting, though there has been feverish speculation about some key ministers being moved and even the vacant defence minister’s post to be filled after Manohar Parrikar’s return to Goa as chief minister. It was widely expected that an expansion may be done after the Budget Session of Parliament, that ended on Wednesday.
Mr Modi is said to have discussed a detailed strategy with his ministers on how to make people across the country aware of the benefits of GST, which the Centre plans to introduce from July 1 this year. The
GST law has been passed by Parliament, but the tax rates still need to be fixed. This is expected to be finalised at a meeting of the GST Council later this month.
How the new setup would help streamline the existing tax structure in the country was the main focus of the PM’s briefing for his ministers, sources said. One point was that the relevant ministries should ensure that a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), and the answers, should be put on their websites to allay apprehensions about GST.
In addition, the idea behind the presentation on Digital India was to give a further impetus on pushing cashless transactions among citizens, as it seems to be fast losing steam after its initial success in the demonetisation drive.
It is being increasingly felt in government circles that awareness campaigns to promote cashless transactions should be aggressively relaunched to give the Digital India campaign a decisive thrust.
