Journalism of Courage
The common man’s pocket may retain more of the money that he earns through his hard work,if the government takes the crucial decision,even if it costs the Indian treasury crores of rupees.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today favoured waiving mandi,octroi and local taxes,which impede the smooth movement of essential commodities,admitting that inflation posed a serious threat to the growth momentum affecting the poor and vulnerable sections.
He said there was a need for a “paradigm shift” in the institutional arrangements,for improving the availability of various commodities to meet the higher levels of domestic consumption.
Addressing chief secretaries of states,Singh said that though the economy has been on a high growth trajectory for the past few years,inflation posed a “serious threat to the growth momentum”.
“There seems to be a strong case for waiving mandi taxes,octroi and local taxes,which impede the smooth movement of essential commodities,” he told the top bureaucrats.
The Prime Minister said though major anti-poverty programmes have achieved considerable success,the “quality of delivery of service has not been always as good as it could be,as it should be”.
