The Seven 'I's of Modi's India by Anant Chetan: In-Depth Book Review, Key Quotes, and Global NRI Perspective

The Seven 'I's of Modi's India: Through The Eyes of an NRI

Authored by Anant Chetan

Published by: Notion Press

Genre: Political Commentary

Pages: 271

MRP: Rs. 399/-

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4564BYc

Introduction

The Seven 'I's of Modi's India by Anant Chetan stands out as a profoundly reflective and comparative examination of India’s transformation from 2014 to 2024. The book, penned from the perspective of a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), combines memoir with a unique analytical framework: the seven 'I's—Infrastructure, Industrialization, Innovation, Immunity, Ideology, Identity, and Institutions. The author’s Western experiences, especially in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, lend the narrative an incisive comparative depth. Rather than presenting numbers alone, the book positions itself as a conversation about people, societies, and ambitions, interrogating the real outcomes versus the promises of the past decade in India.

Structure & Thematic Organization

Preface: Laying Out the Journey

Chetan shares his vantage as an NRI, experiencing India both as an insider and an outsider, allowing him to see the country’s trajectory in sharper relief. He clarifies that the book is not a treatise on absolute answers but a call for discussion—“to provoke thought, spark conversation, and encourage readers to interpret India's journey through their own unique perspectives.”

Framework: The Seven 'I's

Each thematic chapter explores one of the seven forces shaping India’s decade of dramatic change:

1. Infrastructure

Chetan’s personal stories—navigating Europe’s seamless public transport, vibrant urban centers, and thoughtfully mixed-use spaces—serve as both admiration and critique. He contrasts this with India’s ambitious, yet often chaotic, attempts at infrastructural transformation. The analysis includes:

·        The progression of the Delhi Metro and its impacts vs. the halting pace in cities like Bangalore.

·        Debates around high-profile projects (Statue of Unity, Central Vista, Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train), balancing criticisms of cost and displacement against the necessity of national icons and the long-term gains of visionary infrastructure.

·        Arguments for bold investment, showing that “three thousand crores for a monument is tiny compared to state budgets and can generate tourism and local industry.”

The book provides global context, describing Europe’s investment in public spaces, transport integration, and regeneration (e.g., Cologne Cathedral, Paris’ grand boulevards), and asks pointedly why India has so few comparable landmarks post-independence.

2. Industrialization

Through richly written travelogues (from Zurich’s museums to exploring Philips’ legacy in Eindhoven), Chetan examines:

·        The contrast between nations like Switzerland (which industrializes value chains despite importing raw goods) and India, which too often exports resources with little local value addition.

·        Chronicling deindustrialization in West Bengal post-independence, including how initiatives (like the 1952 Freight Equalization Policy) sapped industrious states like Bihar.

·        The missed opportunities exemplified by Tata’s relocation from Bengal and the decline of manufacturing towns—juxtaposed against transformative industrial policies in Europe (such as ESA's geo-return).

·        Comparison to India’s more recent push, via Make in India and extensive MSME financing (e.g., MUDRA loans), to boost industrial entrepreneurship and local manufacturing.

3. Innovation

This section weaves together war-driven innovation in the West—radar, jet propulsion, Bletchley Park's code breakers—contrasting it with India’s missed chances for indigenization in sectors like defense (HAL Marut, Tejas). The author examines:

·        How the Indian approach has favored imports over iterative domestically-led innovation, highlighting delays in engine development and technological self-reliance.

·        The transformation of India’s innovation ecosystem after 2014, with private space startups, the national Atal Innovation Mission, and increasing university-industry collaboration—framing this within the larger trend from product to service innovation, and the challenges/opportunities therein.

·        The ecosystemic gap: why Western nations’ innovation is sustained by deep university-industry links, government incentives for R&D, and an academic culture of hands-on, project-based learning (in contrast to the largely theoretical/rote approach in most Indian institutions).

4. Immunity

Using the COVID-19 pandemic as both metaphor and case study, Chetan discusses:

·        How India’s “immunity”—national resilience—was stress tested: the capacity of Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, and Mobile (JAM) to deliver aid; the swift rollout of vaccines via the CoWIN platform.

·        Social safety nets and the structure of family enabling emotional “immunity,” a point where Chetan draws on personal experience living through European lockdowns for contrast.

·        The broader theme encompasses geopolitical threats (cross-border terrorism, cyberattacks), internal unrest (Naxalism, riots), and administrative reforms (direct benefit transfers, data privacy legislation), reflecting on India's changing capacity to absorb shocks.

5. Ideology

The book delves deeply into the ideological currents shaping modern India and their global parallels:

·        The contested terrain of nationalism, Hindutva, and secularism: how these debates echo, in different form, the struggles through Europe and North America—Brexit, French secularism, citizenship tests in Germany.

·        The process of decolonization and 'de-Mughalization,' noting India’s slow, often politicized approach to revising public symbolism (e.g., name changes from Allahabad to Prayagraj), and contrasting it with Germany’s rapid denazification.

·        Debates around citizenship—CAA, NRC, and their global analogues (Israel's Law of Return, Germany’s citizenship for ethnic Germans).

·        The tension between pluralism and limited identity: caste, language politics, and Northern/Southern divides—critically examined alongside the rise of a more assertive Indian national identity.

6. Identity

Chetan’s most powerful writing emerges in this section, blending memoir with analytical candor. He:

·        Shares candid examples of the evolving personal identity of an NRI and the Indian diaspora, and the complexities of living as a non-Muslim Indian in Europe.

·        Examines how limited identities (caste, region, religion) can both protect and trap individuals, and describes the gradual formation of a pan-Indian identity as necessary for national cohesion.

·        Explores the perils of social media and AI-powered echo chambers, filter bubbles, and polarization—phenomena not unique to India, but with distinctive effects in a vast, fast-digitizing society.

7. Institutions

The book’s final core chapter explores the “soft infrastructure”:

·        Dissects the performance and perception of India’s institutions: judiciary, election commission, administrative bureaucracy, and policing, using historical and comparative analysis with German, British, and Dutch systems.

·        Considers why certain legal norms and civic values become embedded in some societies but prove elusive in others.

·        Critically evaluates how effective institution-building requires a strong underlying framework of social institutions—family, education, and community engagement—drawing lessons from both Western and Indian failures and successes.

Critique & Evaluation

Strengths

·        Contextualization and Comparison: The comparative approach, using the lens of Western successes and failures, raises the quality of the critique to a global level.

·        Narrative Honesty: The author is forthright about his own biases, evolution, and the limitations of his position—allowing readers to question and engage rather than passively accept.

·        Balance: The narrative neither falls into the trap of unreflective “India Shining” optimism nor the cynical fatalism that often colors NRI commentary. Both progress and persistent shortcomings are explored.

·        Depth of Detail: Each theme is researched in historical, policy, social, and personal context, with abundant examples (from the Dutch tulip industry’s high-tech supply chains to caste reservations in Indian higher education).

Weaknesses

·        Over-Ambitious Scope: Occasionally, the breadth of the book—spanning history, policy, memoir, and global economics—results in thematic diffusion. Some topics (like communal violence or the nuances of caste policy) might have benefited from deeper empirical treatment.

·        Implicit Assumptions: At places, there is a risk that the NRI perspective, rich as it is, carries its own class and location-based assumptions, which may not always account for the most marginalized or less globally mobile Indians.

Conclusion

The Seven 'I's of Modi's India is a fresh, honest, and deeply informative exploration of India at a transformative crossroads. It is as much a meditation on what modernity means for a rapidly changing country as it is a self-examination of the author’s own assumptions and journey. The blend of personal memoir, international comparison, and policy analysis makes it a valuable read for anyone—Indian, diaspora, or otherwise—seeking to understand the real debates, dilemmas, and directions of contemporary India.