Kejriwal demands Centre to remove 18 per cent GST on air purifiers
New Delhi (PTI):g Former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday demanded that the central government immediately remove 18 per cent GST imposed on air and water purifiers, in view of the worsening air quality in Delhi-NCR.
In a post on X in Hindi, he stressed that clean air and clean water are the basic rights of every citizen.
"In Delhi and across North India, the air has become deadly. Instead of providing solutions, the government is collecting more taxes from the public,” he said in the post.
He further pointed that when people go to buy air purifiers to protect their families from pollution, they find that the government is charging 18 per cent GST on them, which is outright injustice.
The former AAP supremo demanded that the Centre immediately remove the GST imposed on air and water purifiers. "If you cannot provide solutions, at least stop burdening the pockets of the people," he added.
The air quality is likely to remain 'very poor' over the coming week, according to the forecast by the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi.
With Delhi's air quality slipping into the 'very poor' and 'severe' categories this winter, doctors have stressed the need for regular diagnostic screening to detect early signs of pollution-linked health deterioration, especially among smokers, asthma patients, children and people with pre-existing cardiac or respiratory conditions.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
