INDIA Bloc Protests 18% GST On Life, Health Insurance, Says Centre 'Looting A Struggling Person'

MPs from the INDIA bloc protested against levying of 18 per cent GST on life and health insurance and demanded that the decision should be rolled back.

INDIA bloc MPs protest against 18 per cent GST on health and life insurance.

Source : ANI

Member of Parliament from the opposition's INDIA bloc staged a protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government over the levying of 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on health and life insurance. 

The MPs stood outside the Makar Dwar in Parliament with posters and chanted slogans demanding to roll back the GST on health insurance and life insurance. 

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Majhi raised concerns saying the GST imposed on the health sector will affect the middle class the most. 

"Modi govt implements anything without thinking...if 18% GST is imposed on the health sector, the middle class will be affected by this the most..this is a big injustice to the country...," she said speaking to ANI. 

#WATCH | Delhi: INDIA alliance leaders hold protest against the Central Govt outside Makar Dwar in Parliament demanding to roll back GST on health insurance and life insurance. pic.twitter.com/4ysSLvABNt

— ANI (@ANI) August 6, 2024

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor underscored that GST can't be imposed on something as essential as life insurance. 

"Govt has announced a policy of life insurance and health insurance for all by 2047 and now they are taxing in such a way that there is no possibility to ever do that," Tharoor said. 

"We already have the highest outer pocket expenses in health and now you also want 18% GST is not fair to people," said the Thiruvananthapuram MP, flagging that Kerala also needs an AIIMS in the state which was promised since 2014. 

Another Congress MP Pramod Tiwari remarked that the levying of the GST is like adding to the struggles of a person who is already unwell or has met an accident. 

"Looting a struggling person like this is wrong...," he said, adding that Union minister Nitin Gadkari had also written regarding the rollback of the decision.