Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit was on Saturday appointed the Governor of Tamil Nadu, giving the State Raj Bhavan a fulltime resident after a gap of more than a year. Mr. Purohit was among the four Governors appointed by President Ram Nath Kovind to fill existing vacancies. Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao has held dual charge of both the States after the term of UPA appointee K. Rosaiah ended in August 2016. Jagdish Mukhi will replace Mr. Purohit in Assam. In turn, Mr. Mukhi has been replaced by former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi (retd.) as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. BJP vice-president Satyapal Malik has been appointed the Governor of Bihar. The post had fallen vacant after the BJP’s decision to field Ram Nath Kovind as President. Former member of the Bihar Legislative Council Ganga Prasad has been appointed the Governor of Meghalaya. Mr. Purohit was holding additional charge of Meghalaya. Brigadier B.D. Mishra (retd.) will be the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was holding the additional charge of the State. The Hindu, October 1, 2017

Bigger reforms such as lower number of slabs under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime can be considered once there is revenue buoyancy, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said. Speaking at the ‘Foundation Day’ event of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics on Sunday, the Minister said, “We have almost by the day, space and scope for improvement... to reduce compliance burden as far as small taxpayers are concerned.” He added, “We have space for improvement eventually, once we become revenue neutral, to think in terms of bigger reforms such as lesser slabs, but for that we have to become revenue neutral...” At present, GST slabs have rates of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. The Minister said, “In a society which did not conventionally mind being a non-tax complaint one, people are realising the virtues of compliance which comes with the passage of time. This is the reason for tax integration. Once this change is established, we will have scope and space for improvement. And once we become revenue neutral, we [will] need to think of better reforms.” India is going through indirect taxation at a time when the economy is growing, he said, adding that direct tax is paid by the more affluent sections, while indirect tax is a burden on all. The Hindu, October 2, 2017.

In a post-policy interaction with the media, RBI Governor Urjit Patel cautioned that any moves by the government to impart a fiscal stimulus to the economy could have unintended consequences for macroeconomic stability. “Given the general government fiscal deficit, in other words, of the States and central government’s accounts combined, even that is in the region of 6% of GDP, our national fiscal stance can hardly be described as tight,” Dr. Patel said. “We have to be very cautious about these fiscal actions,” he said. The RBI’s monetary policy report, released on Wednesday, notes that while the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and States is budgeted at 5.9% for 2017-18, empirical estimates suggest that an increase in the fiscal deficit to GDP ratio by 100 basis points could lead to a permanent increase of about 50 bps in inflation. The decision means lenders are unlikely, for now, to cut their rates on home and auto loans for consumers. While five of the six members of the MPC voted for holding rates, one member, Ravindra Dholakia, voted for a 25 bps cut. The RBI noted that the goods and services tax implementation seemed to have had an adverse impact as it made prospects of the manufacturing sector uncertain which may further delay investment revival. The Hindu, October 5, 2017

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that petrol and diesel should be brought under the GST regime to prevent excessive profiteering. He said he hoped Prime Minister Narendra Modi would see the “GST mess” from the “prism of the suffering people” rather than furthering electoral interests. “The first step would be to bring petrol/diesel under the GST to prevent excessive profiteering from common man as GOI (government of India) alone earns Rs. 2,73,000 crore,” said Mr. Gandhi in a series of tweets coinciding with a Goods and Services Tax Council meeting during the day. Taking a dig at Mr. Modi over his description of GST as ‘good and simple tax’, Mr. Gandhi said that “one nation, seven tax” should be made simpler. The Hindu, October 7, 2017

Himachal Assembly poll on November 9, besides, the Gujarat administration had requested the EC for some more time in making the arrangements as it was busy in the relief and rehabilitation work in the wake of floods in July. The State administration informed the Commission that it had to relocate 35 affected villages and that at many places, basic infrastructure like roads were badly damaged. Refuting any anomaly, the Chief Election Commissioner said elections to the two State Assemblies were also announced and held separately in the past: 1993 and 2002. Other factors, like festivals and availability of Central armed forces for security arrangements and transportation of election-related equipment and material, were also taken into account while deciding the schedules. In Himachal Pradesh, which will be the second State after Goa to have polls at 7,521 stations with 100% VVPAT machines linked to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), the last date for filing of nominations is on October 23. The VVPAT machines of randomly selected, one polling station in each of the 68 Assembly constituencies will be tallied with EVM results. The size of voting compartments will also be increased from 24 to 30 inches, with the introduction of VVPAT machines... The Hindu, October 13, 2017

As campaigning picks up in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is bringing in its national leaders to campaign as part of its ongoing Gaurav Yatra, which will end on October 15. Top leaders campaigning in the State include Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On Thursday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia joined the Gaurav Yatra. Union Textiles and Information and broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani also addressed Gaurav Yatra meetings... The Hindu, October 13, 2017

The Congress, while expressing confidence that it will retain Himachal Pradesh in the forthcoming elections — dates for which were announced on Thursday-said it was surprised the dates for Gujarat poll were not announced simultaneously. “The dates for Gujarat were not announced today along with Himachal Pradesh, and there will be a gap of more than one month before the results are announced,” party MP Ranjeet Ranjan said. “It indicates that the BJP is scared of the outcome in Gujarat.” She hinted that perhaps it wished to make some pre-election announcement for Gujarat. The Hindu, October 13, 2017