For the vast mass of the electorate that solidly backed Mr Narendra Modi, neither the promised 'change' in the milieu nor the much-hyped 'achhe din', the voters were fed on, are within sight even in the foreseeable future. Prime Minister Modi, back from another glorious tour abroad, is now forced to fight for 'pro-poor' image of his Government m which had been elusive in his ill-defined 'development' agenda.

What all has been witnessed for 'development' in 2014-15 have been policy moves to maximise India's attractions to get more foreign capital for investments with liberalised caps in virtually in all fields of enterprise, designed to help Mr Modi's 'Make in India' campaign and also his grand plans for industrial corridors, smart cities etc .

There is no dispute that India's infrastructure is a major constraint and massive investments are badly needed and Mr Modi's promise of jobs is linked to them. But land acquisition for all these schemes, pronouncedly urban, has become a major stumbling block and the Modi Government's drastic revision of an earlier consensus law on land has triggered unrest among farmers.

Stoutly resisted by all opposition parties for the turnaround of UPA Government's earlier pro-farmer legislation, the Congress is now spearheading a countrywide farmers' revolt, which has shaped into a major political challenge for the Modi Government and his ruling BJP, now desperately trying to beat the image of the government being “pro-industrialist” and re-create its image as more 'pro-poor', than its opponents.

Hardly, the Modi Government with its massive majority in the 2014 elections would have expected such a united face of a motley opposition emerging after the grand old party of Congress, its national rival, had suffered a devastating poll outcome. The road ahead may not be as smooth for the Modi Government as assumed, even internationally, given all the socially disruptive noises of the Hindu outfits well-entrenched in this government and misgivings about policy implementations.

Though India's relatively strong growth in the new fiscal year at a level above other emerging economies including China, is projected by IMF and World Bank, there is some scepticism as to how far the Modi Government, with its guaranteed political certainty, would be able to deliver on the structural reform agenda, apart from efforts to make doing business easier enough for investors.

Even as Prime Minister Modi was gloating abroad over how his Government was taking the economy out of a morass and “scams” under the previous government, Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley, who was in USA, found to his dismay that the perception of adversarial tax regime was still a matter of concern for foreign investors. His two budgets and copious assurances about not resorting to retrospective taxation had not gained the needed credibility.

Mr Jaitley, however, did not mince matters when he referred to some old cases ('legacy') involving tax dues from multinationals related to transfer pricing being under scrutiny. He declared that as a matter of policy, his Government was against any action with retrospective effect and was working on a modern tax system with 'low and globally competitive rates' for foreign investors who would be seen as 'partners and not as potential hostages or victims'.

Mr Jaitley had coined the expression 'tax terrorism' to run down the erstwhile government's tax law with retrospective provisions. Back from Washington where he led the Indian delegation to the Fund-Bank Spring Meetings, Mr Jaitley has now to respond to avalanche of criticisms against the highly complicated Income Tax Return designed for 2014-15, which is viewed as bringing a version of 'tax terrorism' into every home of tax-payers. A re-think has been promised by the Minister.

In his latest visits to France, Germany and Canada, Prime Minister Modi no doubt effectively projected India's new climate for investments though in the process he also ran down the previous UPA Government charging it with having created a 'mess' and asserting he would change the image from a 'scam-scarred' into a 'skilled' nation.

The Congress, which led the UPA, promptly denounced Mr Modi's attacks, charging him with taking domestic politics into foreign soils, lacking propriety for a Prime Minister, and said henceforth it would ensure that its spokesman would be present wherever Mr Modi went to respond on the spot to such contentions.

On the economic front, the Modi Government has little to claim on accelerating growth recovery in the ten and a half months it was in position in the year ending March 2015, as reflected in the slump in industrial output till February, lack of pick-up in credit growth despite RBI rate cuts, and a sharp drop in exports, resulting in a trade deficit of `137 billion dollars, despite a sizeable reduction in import prices of oil.

The sharp fall in oil and commodity prices helped Government to deregulate diesel prices and reduce oil subsidies, along with some drastic cuts in development expenditure and spectrum auctions to hold fiscal deficit down to the targeted 4.1 per cent of GDP. Government, however, made notable progress with coal sector auctions and also in disinvestments to firm up the fiscal position.

While the economy is showing signs of turnaround, according to Mr Arvind Panagariya, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, the sentiment that 'nothing has changed much on the ground is very much there'. Questions had also been raised about taxation as well as land acquisition and other infrastructural problems, at the IMF briefing on Asia and Pacific Outlook on April 17, on the sidelines of Fund-Bank meetings.

IMF spokespersons said the projected 7.5 per cent growth is based on expected pick-up in investment with a possible start also in recently approved projects and other reform policies and land acquisition problems being tackled. “Much more needs to be done”. On land acquisition, hopefully in the next phase they should be able to tackle some of the difficult problems.”. Overall, there is “room for optimism”.

IMF which has based India's growth projections on the basis of new data of India's statistical organization, is sending out a technical team to get details of the new methodology adopted which, officials said, was 'consistent with global standards'. (IPA Service)