Set up in 2009, the Indian Customs and Central Excise Museum, that until now stored seized exhibits will now also house the details of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The details and exhibits of the new tax regime that was adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi govt in 2017 will now be showcased at this museum, according to an Indian Express report. Spread across two floors in Panjim’s famous blue building that is located across Mandovi, the Indian Customs & Central Excise Museum is one of its kind museums. Until now it housed several exhibits that have been seized from different sources.
The ground floor of this museum highlights the role of the Customs department, whereas the first floor is reserved for the Central Excise. It is the first floor that has an entire area displaying Dandi March exhibit, extensive sugar excise exhibit, and now it is where the Goods and Services Tax exhibits will be showcased too.
Precilla M.D.C.F eSouza, the Customs Superintendent, while talking about this move was quoted as saying that they are planning to redo the 1st floor and exhibit literature on GST. “We have had meetings where the plan is to celebrate the date GST was implemented and tell everything that went behind the change from Central Excise to GST,” she added. The report further states that, an exhibit that has been titled as ‘Battle of Wits’ is the pride of the museum and it is located in the main gallery on the ground floor.
Among precious exhibits that can be found in the museum is an ’18th Century print of a manuscript of the Ain-i-Akbari.’ It was written in 1590 by Akbar’s court historian Shaykh Abu’l Fazal Ibn Mubarak. According to the report, an exhibit has a text written behind it, which states that it was “being smuggled through the Indo-Nepal border and was seized by Customs officials at Raxaul, Bihar.”
