On July 1, the government made an ambitious shift to what it promised was a modern, transparent and technology-driven indirect tax system to sharpen the competitive edge of a $2.3-trillion economy. The tax reform, which holds the promise of economically unifying the nation, is set to complete 100 days on October 8.

Here’s a look at the journey so far:

July 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee launch GST from the Central Hall of Parliament; Government imposes 10% basic customs duty on imported cellphones and certain parts.

First day of GST witnesses blackout in sales of items such as cars and refrigerators.

July 7: Consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan clarifies that pasting stickers with revised prices on pre-July stock is not a breach of rules; allows revised MRP stickers till September 30.

July 8: Former president Pranab Mukherjee promulgates two ordinances introducing GST in Jammu and Kashmir. The government spares airlines from dual levy of GST on leased aircraft.

July 10: Government clarifies that benefits to staff by employers as part of employment contract, occasional gifts up to Rs 50,000 are not subject to GST.

July 11: Finance ministry clarifies that GST is not applicable on free food supplied by religious institutions.

July 15: CBEC clarifies that services by lawyers and law firms will continue to be taxed under ‘reverse charge’.

August 5: GST Council lowers tax rates on a few services.

August 31: Finance minister Arun Jaitley indicates the number of GST slabs could be pruned in future

September 1: Modi proposes GST registration for small taxpayers; GST Council waives late fee for July tax returns.

September 3: President Ram Nath Kovind promulgates ordinance enabling increase in GST cess on motor vehicles from 15% to 25%.

September 4: GST Council extends deadline for filing detailed tax returns for July.

September 9: GST Council raises cess on medium sized-to-large cars and sports utility vehicles in the range of 2-7 percentage points.

September 26: GST receipts for August touch Rs 90,669 crore, 3.6% less than July collections.

September 29: Consumer affairs ministry lets businesses to sell pre-GST goods till December 31, 2017 with revised price stickers.

October 6: GST Council to meet in New Delhi to review compliance, transition issues.

October 8: GST to complete 100 days.

Slamming the Narendra Modi government over sliding economic growth and increasing job losses, former Union minister Arun Shourie has likened demonetisation with suicide, saying the latter is too “a bold step”.

He also called the Narendra Modi government as “government of two-and-a-half persons”.

“This is a government by ‘ilhaam’ (revelation). The Prime Minister has the ‘ilhaam’ one night that demonetisation should be done and he does it. In any case it was a bold step. I have to remind you suicide too is a bold step,” Shourie said in an interview to NDTV when asked why in his view, the government went in for demonetisation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8 last year.

“Which argument (offered by the government in defence of demonetisation) today survives? Black money? All of it turned white. Terrorism? Terrorists are still coming into India. At the end they have nothing to say,” he added.

Shourie also took a dig at BJP President Amit Shah who has said that current slowdown is “due to technical reasons”, terming him “that famous economist?” and underscoring that official figures cannot be brushed under the carpet.

He also said those running the government do not seek any advice or hear the facts.

“This is a government of two-and-a-half persons, that is, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and one in-house lawyer. They don’t have the expertise and they have surrounded themselves by persons who don’t have the expertise.

“They are now in a sealed echo-chamber. They don’t hear what is happening. The distress the RBI has documented of small and medium enterprise. These poor fellows had been clamouring and shouting. Nobody heard them,” he added.

He said that persons like Yashwant Sinha, P Chidambaram and several other economists have been “talking about facts”.

“And those facts emerge from official reports such as The Economic Survey, the RBI surveys, the SBI’s report etc. Is it a fact or not that GDP has collapsed to 3.7 per cent according to the old series? Is it a fact or not that index of industrial production has gone down from about 9 per cent in 2015-16 to about 1.7 per cent in April to July? Is it not a matter of concern?” Shourie said.

However, he said, despite all the red signals, there was little hope of a course change as “it all flows from the nature of the government” and the Modi government has a “sense of hustings”.

“Their core competence is event management. They are so self-satisfied with it. They are just briefing each other, not listening to others... They are concerned about 300-feet statute, bullet trains etc,” he said.

On BJP and government functionaries calling former Union minister Yashwant Sinha a “frustrated” person after he lashed out at the government, Shourie said it was “their standard operating procedure”.

“Whenever they are confronted with inconvenient facts, they try to bury it in avalanche of abuse. I have aconstructive suggestion for them. They should publish a list of persons in advance who they think are frustrated,” he said.

He said that the government’s policies must have predictability, stability and credibility -- all of which is totally absent now -- so that investors and industry are sure of what they can expect from the government and not taken by surprise by out of the blue announcements followed by policy flip flops as has happened under the present regime, be it demonetisation or GST implementation.