To create jobs is the need of the hour: Vice President
Hyderabad: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today said the expanding middle class will be the key driver of India's economic growth, and the need of the hour is to take full advantage of our demography by creating jobs.
He also said that while India must improve its tax-to-GDP ratio and curb tax evasion, there should be no needless harassment of tax-payers.
"The expanding middle class will be the key driver of India's economic growth in the coming years. With the large population of India, about 65 per cent under 35 years, the need of the hour of is to take full advantage of this demographic number by creating adequate job opportunities for the young population," Naidu said.
He was speaking at the inaugural session on a seminar on `Contemporary issues and challenges in Finance, Marketing and Taxation', organised by the Keshav Memorial Institute of Commerce and Science here.
"Merely turning out lakhs of students with degrees is not enough," he said, adding that they must be taught "life skills".
While the first and second rounds of major economic reforms were initiated by the governments led by P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the third round of reforms by the present government is transforming the economy, he said.
Massive recapitalisation of public sector banks at Rs 2.11 lakh crore is expected to improve the credit growth and private sector investment, Naidu said, adding that introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has strengthened creditors' rights.
One of the major objectives of both demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax was to increase tax compliance, he said.
The expansion of formal economy will lead to increased tax collection and higher revenues, which will be used to accelerate development by building essential infrastructure, he said.
"While tax evasion has to be dealt with sternly, it should be ensured that there is no unnecessary harassment of tax payers by overzealous officials," he said.
The GST has changed the face of the indirect tax regime as it brings one tax instead of multiplicity of taxes, Naidu said.
India needs to ramp up its tax-to-GDP ratio, currently at 16.6 per cent, to fund a modern, twenty-first century government which can offer basic public facilities and social security to its citizens, Naidu said.
Demonetisation, a special investigation team for black money and the notification of the Benami Transactions Act would bring a wider range of economic activities in the tax net, while the war on black money needs to continue unabated, the vice president said.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
