New Delhi

The government hopes to pass the landmark Constitution Amendment Bill for a national Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as the bankruptcy and insolvency bill in the second half of the Budget session beginning April 20, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

The GST bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending ratification by the Upper House, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. After it is approved by the Rajya Sabha, the legislation needs to be ratified by half of the 29 states so as to roll out GST possibly by October 1.

“The current session of Parliament has already seen one landmark legislation two days ago. And I do hope to see another two being passed in the second part of the session with regard to the bankruptcy and insolvency laws and GST,” he said at the Advancing Asia Conference here.

The Parliament had last week passed the Aadhaar Bill, providing statutory backing to the unique identification number for transferring government subsidies and benefits.

Also, the Real Estate Bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha.

Once the GST and the bankruptcy and insolvency laws are approved, “I think this gives major fillip or push to our reform process” even in an otherwise weak global scenario, Jaitley said.

Exhibiting determination to move on the reform path, India can provide a significant amount of growth to the world, he said.

“We are trying to have special emphasis now both in terms of legislative changes and resources being put to strengthen the banking system. I do feel that next few months, in bringing about structural change, are going to be extremely important,” the minister said.

Stating that India has its own share of problems, Jaitley said there was increased determination in the country to face the challenges and accelerate the pace of reforms so as to continue to grow.

“Our growth model is based on concerns to eradicate poverty,” he said.

Govt to press for passage of key bills

New Delhi

With just three working days left in the first part of Budget session, the government plans to press for the passage of some key bills, including the Whistle Blower Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016.

The passing of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill and the Aadhar Bill were highlights for the government in the third week of Budget session which had begun on a stormy note last month.

In the remaining days, the government would be keen to see that the real estate bill passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 16 gets the nod of Lok Sabha and Aadhar bill passed by the Lok Sabha gets passed in Rajya Sabha besides transaction of the scheduled financial business.

In Lok Sabha, the business in remaining three days will include discussion and voting on Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for 2015-16 and introduction, consideration and passing of related Appropriation Bill.

The legislative items proposed to be taken up in the Lower House are the consideration and passing of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015 as passed by Rajya Sabha, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the consideration of amendments made by Rajya Sabha in the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill 2015, as passed by Lok Sabha.

Besides the House could also take up the consideration of amendments made by Rajya Sabha in the National Waterways Bill, 2015, as passed by Lok Sabha and the introduction of the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016.

Besides the general discussion on Railway Budget in Rajya Sabha, the government plans to take up the Whistle Blower Protection (Amendment) Bill, the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012.

The Lok Sabha will also take up scheduled financial business, including the Appropriation (Railways) Bill, 2016, besides a general discussion on the Budget.

PTI