Minister of State for parliamentary affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, has stated that the Contitution Bill (122nd amendment) 2014 will be taken up for consideration and passage in the upper house of the parliament, Rajya Sabha next week.

He was making a statement regarding government business for the week starting from August 1 in the Rajya Sabha.  

On 27th July, the Cabinet had approved the key changes in the bill by dropping the one percent manufacturing tax and providing guarantee to compensate states for any revenue loss in the first years of rollout of the ambitious indirect tax regime.

The government is keen to get the bill passed in Rajya Sabha in the ongoing Monsoon session which will end on August 12. The bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha in May 2015. The bill was stuck in the Rajya Sabha as the government does not have majority in the upper house of the parliament and major opposition party, Congress was demanding few key changes in the bill.

The bill will again be sent to the Lok Sabha for confirmation once it gets cleared in Rajya Sabha. The GST bill will create a new single market tax regime in all the 29 states in the country. The bill was scheduled for implementation from April 1, but as the bill was stuck in the Rajya Sabha, the deadline was missed and the implementation could not started.  

By Prajakt K.