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.
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| 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.
