What about GST on hot air and flimflam?

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi invited US businesses to invest in India, claiming that the Goods and Services Tax, or GST, will be a game changer. Even as Modi was waxing eloquent, an art he has mastered, four US lawmakers wrote a letter to President Donald Trump complaining about the difficulty of doing business in India. "While Indian businesses continue to benefit from open US markets, India has failed to eliminate, or even address concretely, multiple trade and investment barriers that have been the focus of recent bilateral and multilateral fora," they wrote. "At the same time, India has imposed several new significant barriers that have harmed US producers across all sectors or our economy, including services, manufacturing and agriculture. Prime Minister Modi's visit provides an opportunity once again to press India for results." Not everyone is impressed with hot air, it seems. In his radio address, presumably recorded prior to his visit to the US, Modi reminded everyone of the "dark night" of the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi 42 years ago. At least Indira Gandhi did not force every citizen to provide fingerprints and iris scans for biometric identity cards and did not force retired tax payers to stand in queues for hours to withdraw their own money from banks because of sudden banning of high denomination notes, known as demonetization. As for repression ask NDTV, whose offices were raided by the CBI without any valid reason. The real crime? NDTV was critical of Modi's government. When the government treats every citizen as criminals it is not surprising that India is at 130 out of 190 in the ease of doing business, according to the World Bank. A report in 'Foreign Affairs' said that demonetization was one of the most 'disruptive experiments' in history, was of no benefit to the economy, but was very popular because Modi was able to persuade the poor, who suffered enormously, that he was hurting the rich. The Economist was not impressed with Modi's reforms or the GST, although it praised his administrative ability and the lack of corruption in the upper ranks of government. Modi boasted that there has not been a single stain of corruption on his government. True, but not one high profile criminal has been successfully prosecuted. When 1.3 billion people are treated as criminals the real ones are lost in the crowd. Public sector companies have been ordered to pay for celebrating the third anniversary of Modi's rise to power and government owned oil companies have been 'directed' to pay Rs 2 billion for a statue to Sardar Patel. That is surely misappropriation of public funds. Modi has visited the US many times before so they will have a dossier on him. If only there was GST on flimflam India would be a rich country. Pity.