‘Fully cooperating to restore normalcy in Hills’: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Mamata has been accusing the Centre of not cooperating to restore peace, and of working hand-in-glove with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to create unrest in the region. Prasad also said that about 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country would be digitally connected by the middle of 2018.

“So far, one lakh GPs are digitally connected via optical fibre under the National Optical Fibre Programme,” he added. According to the minister, the country’s digital economy at the moment is $400 billion, and will touch $1 trillion in the next four to five years. Later in the day, the Union Minister attended another event where he spoke about GST, congratulating all political parties in the country for making the new tax regime a success.

“Today, I want to thank all political parties across the country. Be it Trinamool or the Left or the right.. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar Lalu Prasad Yadav or the Congress. Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi. Sharad Pawar and others — everybody agreed to make GST a success,” Prasad said. Prasad also assured traders and businessmen that GST would not bring in any “inspector raj”.

“I would like my officers to ensure that GST will not bring in any inspector raj. There should be more hand-holding by the department,” he added.