A former primer minister once said, even though we spend Rs1 on the poor, only 20 paise ever reaches them; he was blaming the inefficiency of the system. But this is not just the case with government schemes. Take the case of prestigious projects by governments which are announced on a regular basis; only a minority get to know of the details of such projects. If noone gets to know of such projects, it simply means that noone will benefit from these projects. In the case of government schemes, the danger arises because the policies are intended for the aam admi (common people), but because the people are unaware of the details, the virtue of the policies are lost. The same case applies to GST.

The previous Union budget announced that the goods and services tax would come into effect from April 1, 2010. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, had set the target  for the introduction of GST for 2006-07. After a gap of only three years, the government will introduce the new tax system. The government plans to collect the tax from its people, yet the very people it is supposed to benefit, don't seem to know what it is about. When the European Union introduced a common currency called the Euro, they even published details about the currency in a comic book format, so it would be simple enough for children to understand. The West seems to place the emphasis on sharing knowledge. Be it changes in policy or other big developments, they are eager to distribute the benefits to everyone, irrespective of their age and gender.

But this does not seem to be the case in India. Whenever the government announces a policy change, the media dutifully carries it. But will the information reach every individual in this big country? The answer is probably a big no. I only mean to say that the government should do its public relations (PR) duty in a more systematic way. It should be transparent and user-friendly. When it comes to knowledge distribution, it should depend on popular media as well. GST is actually a leap forward in the taxation system in this country. As analysts say, the Centre will need the consensus of various states for the proper implementation of this new tax system.

If they educate people properly through the media, the people will line up behind the government to offer their opinion and suggestion. Through this mechanism, public opinion can be factored in and a smoothly implement ion of the new system of taxation, can be ensured. This way, the government will not only be giving due respect to people's rights, but will also bring it closer to its people.