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Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar sentenced to life imprisonment for 1984 Sikh massacre

OpIndia Staff
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Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar sentenced to life imprisonment for 1984 Sikh massacre

Delhi High Court has pronounced Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar guilty in 1984 Sikh massacre case and sentenced him to life imprisonment. As per reports, the HC had reserved its order on a plea by CBI against a trial court judgement hat had acquitted Sajjan Kumar and convicted five others. Sajjan has been ordered to surrender by 31 december.


A bench of JusticeS S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel pronounced the sentence in the case related to the murder of five Sikhs in Delhi’s cantonment area after the assasination of former PM Indira Gandhi in October 1984.

As per reports, in 2013, the trial court had convicted former councillor Balwan Khokkar, former MLA Mahendra Yadav, Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal in the case and had aquitted Sajjan Kumar.

Sajjan Kumar and others have been pronounced guilty of leadinga mob and killing five Sikh men, namely Gurpreet Singh, Kehar Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Narender Pal Singh, all members of the same family in the cantonment area on 31 October, 1984.

As per reports, the Delhi HC has also slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakhs on Sajjan Kumar and 1 lakh each on the other accused in the 1984 Sikh riots case.

The court verdict against Sajjan Kumar has come on a day that Kamal Nath, another person who is accused of leading a mob that killed a father and son in Gurudwara rakabganj area, is scheduled to take oath as the new CM of Madhya Pradesh today. Akali Dal leader Manjinder Sirsa had announced that the Sikh community will protest againt Kamal Nath’s appointment as CM by Congress leadership.

Cham Kaur, the witness n the case, had deposed in court that she saw Sajjan Kumar ordering the brutal murder of the five Sikh men.

Ghaziabad: Stray dog, mother of five puppies, raped and dragged to death by Nafees and Tauseef

OpIndia Staff
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Ghaziabad: Stray dog, mother of five puppies, raped and dragged to death by Nafees and Tauseef

In a barbaric incident, two youth from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh have allegedly raped a stray dog and later tied the dog behind their scooter to drag her to death. As per reports, the dog was brutally dragged for almost 3 kilometers before the accused were finally stopped by locals.

Ruchin Mehra, a social activist stated to The Pioneer that the accused men had tied the dog behind a scooter and dragged her. Local residents reportedly objected and tried to catch the culprits but one of them managed to flee. Mehra has stated that the skin of the animal was fatally ripped of from body due to the dragging.

As per reports, the arrested culprit is named Nafees, a resident of the Saheed Nagar area in Ghaziabad. Nafees reportedly confessed to the crime of raping the dog several times before dragging her in the streets. Another accused Tauseef is also a resident from the same locality and has fled after the incident.

Reportedly, the accused during the interrogation has revealed that the dog had bitten several people in the locality, therefore, the two men decided to teach the dog a lesson and went on tie the dog to their scooter and dragged her. NGO People For Animals has registered FIRs against the culprits.

Several such heinous acts of bestiality and barbaric torture on animals have been reported in recent months. In November, a male dog was killed after four men in Mumbai had raped and tortured the animal, allegedly in a drunken state. In Madhya Pradesh, a man named Chhotu Khan was arrested in August after he allegedly raped a cow in Suthaliya town.

In Baghpat of Uttar Pradesh, a youth named Arif was also arrested for allegedly raping and killing a four-month-old calf. Prior to that, it was reported from Mewat, Haryana, that eight men had raped and killed a pregnant goat.

2019: Why BJP needs to build its own Vijaynagar and supporters need to defend it with all they have

Abhishek Banerjee
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2019: Why BJP needs to build its own Vijaynagar and supporters need to defend it with all they have

I am currently on vacation in Hampi and yesterday I happened to pick up the book “Vijaynagar: A Forgotten Empire”. It is written by one Robert Sewell, a British civil servant and was first published more than 100 years ago. Here is a page that I found to be very telling.

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When Muslim invaders reached the Krishna river, the Hindus of South India gathered under the banner of the Vijaynagar Empire, which offered them protection for two hundred and fifty years.

It is a good thing that this is a reprint of a book that was originally published one hundred years ago. That’s why you get this frank admission of facts. The clear acknowledgement of the kind of daily terror and oppression that made up the daily lives of Hindus for eight hundred years.

Can you imagine a modern-day JNU type historian approaching the same subject? They would cover it up under so many banalities (and outright lies) of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb that you would wonder why invaders even had armies when all they wanted to offer was the richness of their culture, music and literature.

Besides, the Break India forces that seek to build up regional pride in the South as a form of opposition to Hindutva should read this for a bitter dose of real history. The South of India is the historic fortress of Hindus. Take that.

The elections of today do not involve a battle (outside Bengal, at least) but their ebb and flow is no different in character from the battles of the past. The media, the politicians, the so-called political analysts and even ordinary people consistently use battle metaphors to describe electoral contests. In this sense, 2019 is no less than a war and a civilizational one at that.

Amit Shah is doing the right thing, creating fear in the minds of BJP’s foot soldiers that a defeat in 2019 could set the ideological battle behind by 25 years. One should remember just how momentous the victory of 2014 was. It was the first time a non-Congress party crossed the majority mark in the Lok Sabha. It was the first time in history that the Congress was ever surpassed by a party in terms of vote share (Janata Party in 1977 was a mere conglomeration of diverse parties and doesn’t really count). In 1996, 1998 and 1999 elections when BJP emerged as the single largest party, the Congress still had more votes.

It is up to the BJP’s workers, its supporters and sympathizers to ensure that the 2014 victory is cemented by a follow up in 2019. That the 2014 win does not end up like that of Hemu over the Mughals in 1556. Securing an additional 0.5% of the votes would have won BJP both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Will these electoral battles end up like the famous freak arrow that hit Hemu in the eye at the Second Battle of Panipat and changed the course of India’s history?

Nevertheless, in order to survive a possible adverse outcome in 2019, the BJP must build up and protect its own “Vijaynagars”: fortresses that can give protection against the invasion of the “idea of India”. From 2004–2014, the Western belt of India running from Gujarat to Chhattisgarh through Madhya Pradesh formed this bulwark. But now Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are gone and it is not clear what will happen in 2022 when BJP tries to win Gujarat for the seventh time in a row.

It is time for BJP to build new Vijaynagars. Where might these be?

The very first of these that comes to mind is the North East. This land has become the apple in the BJP’s eye and the thorn in the flesh of Indian ‘secularism’. They assumed that BJP could never go beyond what they condescendingly called the “cow belt” states. And a saffronized North East, which is seeing development for the first time in seventy years, is causing a deep itch in Lutyens Delhi.

But the BJP also needs big states and you can’t find those in the North East. Luckily there are two big Vijaynagar” opportunities that present themselves.

The first is Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP has crossed the 40% barrier in vote share. It now polls about 43% of the votes. Yes, the party might have some bad luck there in 2019 because the SP, BSP and Congress combine enjoys a 50% vote share, but these parties cannot possibly stick together all the way till 2022. Especially if they manage to get some kind of power in 2019. Even accounting for a loss of few % of votes due to incumbency, the BJP can sweep Uttar Pradesh in 2022 as soon as the grand alliance falls apart.

On another side note, pay no attention to some talking heads who have been trying to manufacture a contradiction between saffron clad Yogi and “Vikas”. Look no further than Madhya Pradesh, where Kamal 1984 Nath is set to become Chief Minister to the delight of every liberal soul in India. And Yogi Adityanath has never faced any allegation even close in seriousness to the kinds that Kamal 1984 Nath has faced. It is clear that India’s liberals don’t object to any perceived form of communal politics, they object to any form of Hindu assertion.

Ask Akshaya Patra in Karnataka, which is now facing an onslaught from the ecosystem despite serving more than 2 billion meals to schoolchildren. What could be more wholesome and more uplifting than that? They don’t object to any specific form of Hinduness, they object to Hindus as a whole.

The second place that could become BJP’s Vijaynagar is the state of Maharashtra. Four and a half years ago, the BJP made a historic jump from No. 4 to No. 1 in the state. And Devendra Fadnavis has barely even lost a round of municipal elections yet.

There is, however, a catch when it comes to Maharashtra. The elections in Maharashtra happen barely 3 months after Lok Sabha elections. As such, a poor national outcome for the BJP in 2019 would push the Assembly election into a honeymoon period of the new government. The BJP government in Maharashtra doesn’t deserve this. If the Assembly were dissolved now so that Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections could be held simultaneously, there is no doubt that Fadnavis would be at an advantage.

But, it is up to BJP President Amit Shah to manage a favourable deal with the Shiv Sena in the Assembly elections were they to be advanced to May 2019.

As 2019 approaches, it is natural for BJP supporters to feel some version of the fear that Hindus have faced over the ages. Fear can be a productive emotion in as much as drives away complacency and forces people to do their best. As long as you don’t let it become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sidhu in a soup for bringing stuffed partridge from Pakistan to ‘gift’ Punjab CM

OpIndia Staff
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Sidhu in a soup for bringing stuffed partridge from Pakistan to ‘gift’ Punjab CM

Controversies refuse to leave Congress leader Navjot Sindh Sidhu alone. On his return from Pakistan, Sidhu brought with himself a stuffed partridge which he presented as a gift to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder. This has prompted two animal rights activists to complain to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau seeking action against cricket-turned-politician for alleged violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Animal Welfare Board of India has now directed DG of Forests and Special Secretary Delhi, Additional DG of Forests (Wildlife) Delhi and Chief Wildlife Warden, Chandigarh to send a report within 3 days for action under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

The bird was gifted to Sidhu by a Pakistani journalist when he was in Pakistan for the groundbreaking ceremony of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib corridor. On 12th December, Sidhu ‘gifted’ the partridge to Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, which the latter reportedly refused to accept. Hunting of partridge is banned in India but the bird was already stuffed when it was brought from Pakistan, hence there is a lack of clarity whether the bird can be kept in India.

The Punjab CM office sent the stuffed bird to the wildlife department asking if it could keep it. As per reports, the stuffed partridge has been sent for further investigation to forest wildlife department but the department is not able to come to a decision.

Sandeep Jain, a volunteer at the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau while registering a complaint against Sidhu sought a probe on how the bird was brought from Pakistan and kept in Punjab for so long. “It’s illegal to keep an animal or a bird or their body parts without permission,” he said.

DMK chief Stalin proposes Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate to defeat ‘fascist Modi govt’

OpIndia Staff
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DMK chief Stalin proposes Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate to defeat ‘fascist Modi govt’

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin proposed the name of Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for UPA in the coming general elections. Stalin made the proposal while addressing an event to inaugurate the life-size statue of M Karunanidhi at the DMK headquarters. Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were present at the occasion, along with other UPA leaders.


Speaking at the event, M K Stalin said, “From the soil of Tamil Nadu, I propose the name of Rahul Gandhi for the prime ministerial candidate. I propose we’ll install a new Prime Minister in Delhi. I propose the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Tamil Nadu. He has got the ability to defeat the fascist Modi government.” Attacking Modi government, the DMK leader said, “In the five years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule, the country has gone 15 years back. If we give another chance to him, surely the country will go 50 years back. PM Modi is behaving like a king, that’s why we’ve all come together to safeguard democracy and country.”

The event organised to inaugurate the statue turned out to be a show of strength of UPA after Congress victory in assembly elections. Other than the Gandhis, other UPA leaders present in the event included West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Andra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, and several other high-level politicians from several parties. Movie star turned politician Rajinikanth also attended the program.

Stalin proposing Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister candidate is significate since no other UPA constituent has openly supported the Congress president as the unanimous candidate from the coalition. Several leaders of UPA themselves fancy themselves as the prime ministerial candidate, and for that reason, UPA is unlikely to announce an official candidate before elections. Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, Naidu and Shard Pawar are among the top contenders among UPA leaders. Even in Congress party, not everyone is sure about Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate. Two months ago former union minister P Chidambaram had said that Congress won’t project Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate in 2019 elections. Several senior Congress leaders think they can become Prime Minister if UPA comes to power, in case there is no consensus on Rahul Gandhi among the coalition partners. Some party leaders also hope to become Manmohan Singh of Rahul Gandhi, as the Congress president has not shown any intest in governance and administration so far.

Conceding that he may not be supported by all the allies, Rahul Gandhi had said earlier that while he would like to become the prime minister, the party was open to supporting any other candidate not supported by RSS.

After the announcement of M K Stalin, it will be interesting to how the leaders of Congress party and other UPA partners react to the development.

Fact-Check: Are Rahul Gandhi’s claims of farmer loans being waived in Karnataka completely true?

OpIndia Staff
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Fact-Check: Are Rahul Gandhi’s claims of farmer loans being waived in Karnataka completely true?

Congress President Rahul Gandhi may have mastered the art of deceiving the media but he has been exposed yet again to the public after his claim concerning the loan waiver in the state of Karnataka has been proved to be a lie. It has now been discovered that farmers in the state have been slapped with recovery notices by banks.

Nearly twenty farmers of Ganajalkhed village, Kalaburgi district have received recovery notice from Andhra Bank on November 28 for the repayment of farm loans.

However, speaking at an election rally in Jaisalmer district’s Pokhran constituency, Rahul Gandhi had made tall claims. He said, “You may call and ask any farmer in Punjab and Karnataka and check whether their loans have been waived or not by the Congress party. I do not make false promises.”

Similarly, Congress party had tweeted claims that they had fulfilled the promise in Punjab and Karnataka and will also waive off farm loans in Chhattisgarh within 10 days of forming the government.


Shockingly, it has been found that the claim of the Congress is yet another lie as the farmers from Kalaburgi, one of the poorest regions of the state, have been now asked to appear before Permanent Lok Adalat on Saturday for final disposal of the petition filed by the bank.

The farmers had taken crop loans from Andhra Bank in 2011 of about Rs 2 lakh by mortgaging their land. They had repaid the loan and were granted fresh loans in 2013. Then, the farmers could not repay their loans since there was a severe drought in the state for the last few years.

While farmers are being sent recovery notices on one hand, on the other, in an unfortunate incident as reported by News9, a 56-year old farmer named Hampanna Hoogar belonging to the district Bagalkot has been found dead after the debt-ridden farmer committed suicide.

Recently, it was reported that Karnataka state government itself had admitted that Rs 44,000 crore loan waiver had helped only 800 farmers in the state. They had confirmed that only a few of the farmers had benefited from the so-called ‘loan-waiver’. This shatters the claims that have been touted by Congress President Rahul Gandhi repeatedly.

Congress party consider themselves above country, democracy, judiciary and public: PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Congress party consider themselves above country, democracy, judiciary and public: PM Modi

Mounting a blistering attack on Congress for its tendencies to subvert democratic institutions, PM Modi, while addressing a rally at Prayaraj cautioned people to remain safe from such political parties and their leaders. PM Modi was in Prayagraj to attend multiple events in the city. He inaugurated Command and Control Centre for the Kumbh Mela.


PM Modi alleged that the machinations of building pressure on the judiciary have started. He held it important to alert the young generations to be wary of such evil designs by political parties who are trying to undermine the established democratic institutions in the country. Alluding to the recent drubbing of Congress by the Supreme Court, Modi contended that the Congress party has always considered itself above all democratic institutions including judiciary, law and order and the conspiracies hatched by them testifies it.


PM Modi also alleged that it is Congress party’s nature to straitjacket democratic institutions and render them helpless. Modi said that those who don’t capitulate to Congress demands are eventually discredited by them. It is Congress’ privileged sense that is eroding away the foundations of impartial institutions.

Speaking about the ‘Kumbh Parv’, Modi stated that the central government and the state government will ensure that a glimpse into India’s glorious past and luminous future will be showcased through this Parv. Modi said that the Kumbh celebrations are the biggest testament to India and Indianism. The Kumbh festivity inspires us all to end the differences amidst us pertaining to languages, attires and form a unity that is accurately reflects what our country stands for.

Meghalaya High Court judge clarifies his comments in judgement after CPI(M) threatens of impeachment

OpIndia Staff
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Meghalaya High Court judge clarifies his comments in judgement after CPI(M) threatens of impeachment

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has threatened Meghalaya High Court Justice SR Sen of impeachment for his 10 December remark on NRC and partition.

“The CPI(M) is of the opinion that Justice Sen has lost his moral right to continue in the office as a Judge of the High Court. The party will consult other parties in Parliament to consider moving an impeachment motion for his removal.” CPI(M) said in a statement.

They also have made a request to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to oust Justice Sen from his designation. They alleged that Justice Sen’s ideology is akin to RSS and communal in nature. Party said that the judgment is also against the sanctity of the secular nature of the constitution.

After these developments, Justice SR Sen has issued a clarification regarding the judgment. He said the confusion is arising due to misinterpretation of his comments and added that he upholds the secular nature of the constitution. In a clarification issued on Saturday under the same case where he had issued the earlier judgement, he wrote that secularism is one of the basic features of the Indian Constitution and it should not further be divided on the basis of religion, caste, creed, community or language.

“I am not a religious fanatic rather I respect all the religions because to me God is one.” Read the clarification.

On 10 December Justice S R Sen in a judgment had said that India should also have been declared a Hindu country after partition like Pakistan chose to become an Islamic one. The judgment was regarding allotment of domicile certificate to an army recruit.

Justice SR Sen had requested the Prime Minister and other lawmakers to bring a law to allow the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to live in this country peacefully and with full dignity. He had also urged the government to provide these groups with unconditional citizenship. Justice had also stated his discontent for ongoing NRC drive in Assam.

The judge noted that the ongoing process to update the NRC in Assam is “defective as many foreigners become Indians and original Indians are left out which is very sad.”

Justice had expressed confidence in present dispensation headed by Modi government, that it will do its best to safeguard interests of the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos. He had also cautioned against the transformation of Indian into an Islamic Nation. “I make it clear that nobody should try to make India as another Islamic country, otherwise it will be a doomsday for India and the world,” he wrote.

In the clarification issued, Justice Sen said that:

“I would like to make it clear that when I mentioned the government under Shri. Narendra Modiji it is inclusive of the Hon’ble Ministers and Hon’ble Members of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.” He further clarified that remark in judgment also mentioned about the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee. He said that his appeal was to all lawmakers and legislators of the country.

The judgment had also mentioned that post-partition Hindus and Sikhs were affected the most. But, while Sikhs managed to rehabilitate, Hindus never got chance. He also had mentioned that while genocide of Jews and horrors of the Holocaust are widely documented and discussed, the plight of Hindus in East Pakistan did not get much attention.

Justice Sen said that he nowhere made remarks against secularism and said that he only cited historical facts, and one can never alter them.

In recent times, this is the second instance when a political party is trying to move impeachment against a sitting judge. In April, seven opposition parties submitted a petition seeking impeachment of Chief Justice Dipak Misra to the Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. But, VP had rejected the motion citing lack of merit in it.

The Prince and his dilemma: A short story

Sanghamitra
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The Prince and his dilemma: A short story

The prince was sitting restlessly. It has been a totally crazy 2 months and the prince has not even had time to catch up on all the lost episodes of Chhota Bheem. Rajnikanth’s 2.0 came to theatres and everyone watched it, but the poor prince was made to keep working, keep travelling and keep giving speech after speech.

“I will not memorise all this stuff. It just too much pressure. Just tell me the city name where I am dropped for a rally and I will promise a mobile factory there”, He had declared long before. They cannot disobey him anyway. So they had agreed.

“But Prince, speeches are supposed to be long, just mobile factory won’t suffice.” The old uncles had tried to reason, but Prince was Prince, “Ok Ok, Rafale, Chowkidar, Ambani, Adani, suit boot, farmers, yuvaon ko rozgar etc etc bol dunga”, the prince had matured in the recent years, he knew how to make speeches.

The Queen beamed with pride. The courtiers had looked at him as the junior artists of Lagaan in the last scene of rainfall after the match has been won.

But today, Prince was visibly agitated. “Ab aur kitna kaam karna hai”, he screamed exhausted. All he wanted to do was order his bags packed and leave for a vacation, as usual. But the oldies have instructed – no more vacations, the Bhakts are mocking it too much. Prince had to stay, damn the Bhakts.

The queen came closer, “Dobbiamo ancora scegliere, mio figlio”. She said with mild authority.

“Ok then. We will choose”, Prince gave in. “Who are the hopefuls? Ask them to line up,” he ordered the courtiers.

The next day, they had all lined up. In the Middle province, the hopefuls for the lordship were Oldie uncle 1984 and buddy boy Jo. The Prince liked buddy boy Jo a lot, for he was a fellow prince too, but oldie uncle 1984 was favoured by many. So, uncle, it was. “Sorry, buddy boy Jo, mom said it had to be the uncle, next time, promise,” he had said to Jo.”

The sandy province was much more difficult. The Aviator dude was another favorite of the Prince, but Jadugar uncle was very powerful. It was going to be tough.

Sandy province people came late. “Are they coming on camels, mom?” The Prince had asked, getting visibly restless.

“Pazienza, mio figlio”, the queen said. “The lordship of the sandy province is an important position to give,” she explained.

“Yes, I would love free camel rides with the aviator dude,” Prince beamed like Yami Gautam after 6 days of trying Fair and Lovely. “He said he will take me to see the sand dunes in Agusta chopper”, Prince declared.

“It’s not about camel rides, mio figlio,” the queen added, avoiding Agusta completely, “we have to keep Robbie in mind while deciding whom to award the lordship, Robbie has landed there. He is a farmer too, remember? You promise you will not disappoint farmers”.

The prince slumped back on his chair. Politics is too much brain work. “When will I understand all these, mom?”, he asked, impatient.

“Soon, mio figlio, as soon as you come of age”, she said. “Are you ready to meet them now?

“Yes, send them in, just explain that camel ride part,” the prince gave in. “When I come of age, every mobile factory in every town will give free packets of potato chips to all farmers, he started thinking, all the MRIs in every state will be connected via Bluetooth, the Chinese will be lining up to buy patilas and locks made in UP and me and buddy boy Jo will go on a world tour in a Rafale Jet flying with an escape velocity of Jupiter.”……He drifted off to a peaceful sleep with a  double dimpled smile.

Disclaimer: All characters and scenarios in this story are completely fictional.

GST implementation enabled increased Household Savings as tax rates came down

OpIndia Staff
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GST implementation enabled increased Household Savings as tax rates came down

As per finance ministry reports, the implementation of Good and Services Tax (GST) has brought down the tax rates and enabled increased Household Savings for the customers. According to the analysis, an average consumer is now saving about Rs 320 monthly on the purchase of commonly used goods including cereals, edible oil and cosmetics post-GST implementation on an expenditure of Rs 8400.

According to the analysis, If a household spends Rs 8,400 a month post GST on 10 goods — cereals, edible oil, sugar, chocolates, namkeen and sweets, cosmetics and toiletries, washing powder, tiles, furniture and coir products and other household products — its monthly savings would be close to Rs 320, the finance ministry source claimed referring to the expenditure analysis. An analysis of the pre and post-GST implementation shows that the tax rates have come down on at least 83 consumer products such as hair oil, toothpaste, soap, washing powder and footwear.

Earlier, before GST, when a consumer spent Rs 8,400 on the daily use items, he/she had to pay Rs 830 taxes but after GST the tax charges have been reduced to Rs 510. The consumer saves effectively Rs 320 on consumption of daily needs goods worth Rs 8,400, as per finance ministry source. In the earlier tax framework, the central government would levy excise duty on a product manufactured in a factory and subsequently the state governments would impose VAT on top of this. This meant that the consumer not only paid VAT on the price of the product but also on the excise duty charged by the centre.

Implementation of GST resulted in uniform tax rates on goods and services and it also removed the tax-on-tax widespread in the previous system. In addition to this, lowered GST rates on a host of products have facilitated increased monthly savings for consumers. According to the government source, wheat and rice have been exempted from tax under GST against 2.5/2.7% tax incidence in the previous framework. Likewise, tax on milk powder is reduced by 1% from 6% to 5% post-GST. Sugar confectionery products were taxed at 21% in earlier tax regime but under GST they have been put under the tax slab of 18%.

The source asserted that there has been a marked reduction in tax rates on scores of goods including milk powder, curd, buttermilk, spices, wheat, rice, nutrition drinks like Horlicks/Bournvita, pasta, idli dosa batter and mineral water, as these products are taxed at a much lesser rate under the GST than previously. The tax rate on washing powder and tiles has come down to 18% from 28% earlier. On furniture goods, the earlier tax rate of 28% has been brought down to 5/18% slabs under GST.

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