12 Opp. parties give notice of no- confidence in RS dy chair

Twelve Opposition parties on Sunday moved a notice for a no- confidence motion against Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh after he overruled their pleas to postpone agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s reply to the debate on the two farm bills till Monday as the Upper House’s sitting time was over. The motion, signed by 100odd members, was submitted to the House notice office as the secretarygeneral was not present.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel told reporters: “This day will go down in history as a ‘ black day’. The way these bills have been passed goes against democratic processes and amounts to killing democracy… The deputy chairman’s conduct was not according to democratic norms.”

New Delhi, Sept. 20: As many as 21 states have opted to borrow ` 97,000 crore to meet the GST revenue shortfall in the current fiscal, sources said on Sunday.

In the current fiscal, the states are staring at a ` 2.35 lakh crore Goods and Services Tax ( GST) revenue shortfall. Of this, as per Centre’s calculation, shortfall of about ` 97,000 crore is on account of GST implementation and rest ` 1.38 lakh crore is due to the impact of Covid- 19 on states’ revenues.

The Centre late last month gave two options to the states to borrow either ` 97,000 crore from a special window facilitated by the RBI or ` 2.35 lakh crore from market, and has also proposed extending the compensation cess levied on luxury, demerit and sin goods beyond 2022 to repay the borrowing.