0.5% Cess

It’s been long, close to 400+ days I am back to my blog. My last blog was about the Swacch Bharat campaign by our honourable Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi. Now we have a Swacch Bharat cess of 0.5% levied on many services liable for service tax, effective from November 15, 2015, which means whatever you earn or spend you give a 0.5% to the Swacch Bharat campaign along with other taxes like VAT or IT.

Thanks to telegraphindia.com

“Swachh Bharat Cess is not another tax but a step towards involving each and every citizen in making contribution to Swachh Bharat. The 0.5% levy will translate into a tax of 50 paisa only on every Rs 100 worth of taxable services,” the finance ministry said in a statement. The proceeds from this cess will be exclusively used for Swachh Bharat initiatives of the government, it added.

I really appreciated the campaign but I am a little sceptical about the cess factor. Why?  We have a past history of our governments Pandora’s box opening with scams after a while they are in power or after they lost power. Of course blaming it on the ministry would be wrong, there are tons of government servants who sit hungry for a prey to come and this time it is the 0.5% cess in the name of Swachh Bharat.

When the campaign started, there were a lot of hue and cry but we rarely hear or see any. When it was launched we used to see every day almost many organisations, corporate honchos, sports stars, film stars etc. hitting the streets with a jharu (broom) in hand. Many places seemed clean literally.

The big question here is why can’t we keep it going? We are paying the cess but we don’t know what’s happening to it. The media who were going gaga with headlines of different Swacch Bharat campaigns- where they are now?

When such an initiative is taken someone should make sure that the awareness campaign continues. We might have seen our PM with a broom in hand cleaning roads but how many times we have seen a local MLA or a Corporator doing the same. This needs to be done at the grassroots. Every MLAs and Corporators should start such campaigns on a regular basis in their own wards. That way we will be able to increase more awareness and spread cleanliness. Local clubs and organisations should follow. There are millions of local clubs in the country who can create a niche of their own by starting such campaigns at least every fortnight. We see clubs during festivals only be it Durgapuja or Ganesha or any other deities. Don’t these clubs understand cleanliness is next to godliness?

The government have started a very wonderful campaign. When we go outside the country and appreciate the other countries for their cleanliness we forget it’s the common mass that have done it, who have felt the need for it.