Modi targeting a flock of birds by one stone- "Startup India"

"Startup India", the so called brain child of our PM Narendra Modi seems to be welcome step apparently. I would appreciate if it really happens to fulfill the needs of the would-be entrepreneurs of India. Unlike other programs initiated by Mr. Modi the startup-India campaign is definitely going to gain excellent momentum initially, looking at the huge population of Indians which happen to possess a “business plan”, however it is quite difficult for a common man to guess what is likely to be the direction of the momentum of this program in future.

Apparently it seems to be an effort to attract heavy investments and create jobs but there are striking phenomena that can be noted when you keenly examine the anatomy of the program. 
This is a program that has been hastily projected at a time of economic slowdown, wherein the Indian economy has landed up into serious troubles of falling down of net export and sinking INR which seems fatal for the already proposed plans like Make-in-India. There has been no substantial development in the logistic infrastructure of country other than efforts to pour hopes by speech. So there is absolutely no question of "huge" fresh investments to be made in India in near future. Small investments has kept on flowing in India since 2006 and will keep coming in since India is a rapidly growing market of 1.32 billion people. The slow growth of make-in-India campaign has led Modi and team to attract investment by softening up of taxation rules and labor law for the startups for 3 years. When the make in India campaign was started we failed to ask ourselves the question that “why” someone will come all the way to make in India when there are highly competitive countries like China and others with cutting edge technology and equally cheap labor. The answer lies in weak labor laws, less environment protective laws etc. PM Modi has cleared all. Well I had sensed it long back.

Modi has very sharply targeted a flock of birds by one stone. It would never have been so easy for Modi government to bring such modifications in labor law and taxation rules under the banner of Make in India.

Anyways, the implications of this program can be good to terrible. The government believes that it may bring both national and international money into the market. It will certainly do that. It will lessen down the burden of registering a company and our youngsters may find it relatively less difficult to register their startups. However it would be premature to comment on this section as the government has not disclosed complete details yet. The initial tax free period and the support of government towards the cost of filing patents trademarks and designs will ensure better chances of survival of the startups which in turn would be good for the economy in long run.

However, the worst aspect of this program is the exemption from the labor law that the startups will enjoy. This challenges the very spirit of social justice in every way. This is all set to pave a way to welcome the century old serfdom wrapped in a very new form. I may refer it as “Neo-serfdom”. The employees, (just like in the so called “silicon valley of India- Bengaluru”) would be exploited to the fullest. In the name of development they will have to sacrifice their work-life balance and will be subject to various kinds of exploitation like working for overtime without any payment and zero job-security. This is a fatal blow to the existing labor law of the country at a time when the western world including the European Union is trying their best to strengthen their labor laws and protect the interest of employees.

Other dark side of the campaign may be the deliberately planned registries in order to escape the taxes. Many big companies may register a startup and escape taxes for 3 years and exploit the labors for maximizing their profit and no one will care for such things. Does the government claim to have such mechanisms which could ensure a check to such questionable entries of already existing honchos when at one side the government is giving inspection free period of 3 years?

The budget of 10,000 crores of rupees (approx USD 1.5 billion) that the government has allocated for a time period of 4 years also seems to be very incomprehensible. There will be a question of whom to fund and how much to fund. It requires a great deal of transparency. Will the genuine Indian startups be benefitted? Will the foreign investors be given more weight and attention when it comes to funding? Whether there will be corporate-government nexus for the funding and the deliberately planned startups be funded?

Another big loophole of the proposed program is the easy exit. It would become very easy for the companies to enter, be funded and eventually show themselves bankrupt and fly away with the government money.
Anyways, not to be too straight forward, I hope for the best.