Cannot have a full Chinese model in India.

"The good thing about the last four years is that the masks are off," wrote M Chakravarty. "There's no question of the ruling party being just for vikas or development. What we get is vikas as a subset of Hindutva." "It is a counter-revolution where nationalism, tradition and religion are used to paper over the gross inequalities, rampant exploitation and the glaring contradictions of Indian society." Prime Minister Modi has made "an attempt to emulate the East Asian model of development, particularly the Chinese model". Every East Asian state had an autocratic government during their period of rapid growth. So Modi forced every Indian to obtain an individual number, based on photographs, iris scans and fingerprints, as in a concentration camp. This supersurveillance was imposed on citizens without consultation and sneaked through the parliament as a money bill. We have not been told the cost of this project so the cost has to be calculated through educated guesswork. Emulating China, "A 'long march through the institutions' is taking shape, with adherents to the regime's ideology being put in places of power." "Who is benefiting from these policies? "Big business, both national and international, is solidly behind Modi." India has jumped 53 places in two years in the World Bank's ease of doing business index but B Anand found that he has to submit 57 documents to obtain permission to open a restaurant in Delhi. Taxes are exorbitant, rules are vague and "they are plagued by arbitrary changes in rules". "Out of the 12 departments that regulate the operations of a restaurant in Delhi, only one has published a guidance document." "Businessmen who pay the one-time costs and obtain the licenses are then subjected to unclear and arbitrary inspections and rule changes." Scope for inspectors to demand bribes. Who would want to invest in a country where tax demands are based on whim and in violation of our tax laws? asked AP Datar. India lost a number of tax arbitration cases and so decided to change Bilateral Investment Treaties unilaterally. "Apart from repeated retrospective tax amendments, demands made by the tax department are often made only to meet revenue targets." "In the case of Nokia VAT (value-added tax) authorities of Tamil Nadu shockingly treated export turnover to the extent of Rs 26,000 crore -- and for which forex had come into India -- as 'inter-state sales'. This was then made liable to tax at 12%!" Nokia shut down the factory losing 8,000 jobs, so Tamil Nadu lost out on future taxes as well. While billions have been spent on snooping on citizens bank frauds have risen by 20% in the past two years. While emulating China on suppressing opposition Modi has spent over Rs 30 billion on building a statue while China has built a giant air purifier capable of cleaning air in a 10-12 km radius. We have the most polluted cities in the world. "And in a society where the richest 10% own three-quarters of the nation's wealth, talk of inclusive development is hogwash," wrote Chakravarty. Maybe, but opportunities for social schemes are immense. They win elections.