In the recently concluded polls in the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala the new Finance Ministers namely Amit Mitra, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, KN Balagopal, and HimantaBiswaSarma respectively came into power.
GST Council is a constitutional body playing a crucial role in making recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax. The Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and other members are the Union State Minister of Revenue or Finance and Ministers in charge of Finance or Taxation of all the States. Post State elections in a few states last month, the Council has got three new members PTR Planivel Thiagarajan (Tamil Nadu), K.N Balagopal, and Ajanta Neog (Assam) replacing the former Ministers, O. Paneer Selvam, Thomas Isaac, and HimantaBiswaSarma.
The Finance Minister of West Bengal, Amit Mitra was a former Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), was a lawmaker from the Khardah assembly seat in North 24 Parganas for two consecutive terms.
During his tenure, he transformed FICCI into a professional organization to research and formulate India’s policy during its economic liberalization. The number of conferences organized by FICCI rose from 10 to 500 between 1994 and 2011 and its revenues saw an increase from Rs 3 crore to Rs 110 crore during the period Dr. Mitra presided over its activities.
He has been on the government’s advisory committee on the World Trade Organization and the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. He was associated with the Planning Commission as a member of the expert group on equitable development. He has also been appointed a member of the Board of Air India-National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL). He is also on the Board of IL&FS –CDI, a hundred percent subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) which is one of India’s leading infrastructure development and finance companies, Also on the Board of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC).
The Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan began his career in 1990 as an independent consultant in Operations and Systems Improvement. He joined Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2001 as Trader and Co-Portfolio Manager – Firm Relationship Loan Portfolio. He quit Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as Head Of Offshore Capital Markets in the year 2008.
He then worked for Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore in the Global Capital Markets division. He quit Standard Chartered Bank as Managing Director, Financial Markets Sales in the year 2014.
The Finance Minister of Kerala, KN Balagopal who entered politics as a student leader in the 80s, rose through the ranks of the student outfit SFI and the youth outfit DYFI to make his mark in the state’s politics. He eventually became the national president of both the SFI and DYFI. While he was the state secretary of the SFI in Kerala, his march on foot along with hundreds of activists against the education policy of the then-Congress-led government got him attention on the crowded political field.
In 2006, he was appointed the political secretary to then-chief minister VS Achuthanandan when the CPM-led front cruised to victory in the Assembly elections that year. Four years later, Balagopal was sent as the CPM nominee to the Rajya Sabha, where he had a remarkable stint, participating in debates and question-hour sessions. He called for attention to the state’s cashew industry, located primarily in the Kollam district, problems faced by Gulf returnees, and the environmental problems in Munroe Thuruth. He was awarded the SansadRatna award for a best parliamentarian in 2017.
Assam got its first woman finance minister, Ajanta Neog. Neog, who was elected to the state Assembly from the Golaghat assembly constituency in eastern Assam, would also hold the social welfare portfolio.
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