The Lok Sabha has passed the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025. The bill is aimed to augment funding for health and national security with the imposition of cess on production of goods such as pan masala and any other goods that may be notified by the central government. Proceeds from the cess will be used for expenditure towards public health and national security.
Replying to a debate on the Bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, the government wants to deter the use of demerit goods. She said collected cess will be spent on public health and also on strengthening defence ecosystems. She said, public health is a state subject, while defence is the responsibility of the Centre. She stressed on the need to raise more resources to modernize the defence forces to deal with the evolving challenges. She said, modern conflicts are dominated by precision weapons, space-based assets, cyber operations, and other advanced technologies. The Minister said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken about the Mission Sudarshan Chakra to build an impenetrable security shield around the nation’s key locations, industrial hubs and public-sector assets. She said, Operation Sindoor demonstrated the reality of modern warfare which is technology-driven, precise and reliant on sophisticated systems.
The Minister stressed on raising revenue to fulfil the competing demands of the nation. She pointed out that the government has already given up significant fiscal space in many ways by reducing Income Tax and changing the GST structure to provide relief to people. Earlier, moving the bill yesterday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, the cess will not be placed on any essential commodities but only on demerit goods, which are associated with significant health risks. Mrs Sitharaman said the revenue from Health Security se National Security Cess Bill will be shared with states for specific health schemes. She said, in addition to 40 percent GST, Health and National Security Cess will be levied on production capacity of pan masala units.
Participating in the debate, Dhaval Patel of BJP said, health and security are pivotal to make India a developed nation by 2047. He said, the share of Government Health Expenditure in the GDP has rapidly gone up in the last 11 years. Independent MP Umeshbhai B Patel said, over 13 lakh people are dying every year due to usage of tobacco products. Hanuman Beniwal of RLP highlighted the ineffectiveness of banning gutkha, pan masala, liquor across the states. He said there should be regulation of these products. Opposing the Bill, Kishori Lal of Congress said, the legislation will end the financial independence of states.
