Jewellers go on three-day pan India strike once again

Jewellers have gone on a three-day pan India strike once again, protesting the government's decision to stick to one percent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.

According to a report in a leading daily, the strike stated on Monday and has been called for with the intention of attracting the government's attention during the second budget Parliamentary session that also went underway on Monday. 

On day one of the parliamentary session, the government reiterated its decision of sticking to the 1% excise duty. 

The fiance minister said on Monday that it was not keen on removing the excise duty. 

Justifying the tax, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said, "How can a luxury item remain out of tax when essential items like cement, cloth and many others have to pay manufacturing tax. If we do not bring GST on gold, taxation on other items will have to be increased."

Earlier this month, jewellers called off the indefinite strike after 45 days, which is expected to have caused a loss of thousands of crores.