Demonetisation, GST & more; Arun Jaitley's contribution to Indian politics

With Jaitley as the finance minister, the Modi government was able to take several key economic initiatives like demonetisation and the implementation of the GST

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On first death anniversary of Arun Jaitley, a key BJP leader and a crucial member of the party's brain trust for decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda, paid rich tributes to him. Former Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, died at 66 years of age after battling prolonged illness.

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Mr Jaitley was appointmented as the Union finance minister in 2014 in the first Modi government. Besides finance, Jaitley previously held the defence, corporate affairs, commerce & industry and law & justice Cabinet portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi governments. He opted out of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections citing health reasons.

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With Jaitley as the finance minister, the Modi government was able to take several key economic initiatives like demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). In Jaitley's stewardship, the Modi government merged the railway budget with the general Budget. Moreover, the decision to advance the date of the general budget to February 1 was also taken with Jaitley as the finance minister.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembered his late Cabinet colleague and friend of many decades Arun Jaitley on his first death anniversary and said he diligently served India. "On this day, last year, we lost Shri Arun Jaitley Ji. I miss my friend a lot. Arun Ji diligently served India. His wit, intellect, legal acumen and warm personality were legendary. Here is what I had said during a prayer meeting in his memory," Modi tweeted, posting a video of his speech at the condolence meeting held here for Jaitley last year.

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Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu described him as a multi-faceted personality who served the nation with distinction, while paying tributes on his first death anniversary, A politician, lawyer and a Union minister, Jaitley played many roles in his public life.

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In a series of tweets, on the first death anniversary of former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Finance Ministry said before goods and services tax (GST), the combination of value-added tax (VAT), excise, sales tax and their cascading effect resulted in high standard rate of tax up to 31 per cent.