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1. Because China doesn't have elections, their opposition ends up in camps.
2. China doesn't waste money on freebies; instead it spends billions on mass surveillance, re‑education camps, tight policing, internet control and everything needed to keep citizens loyal to the CCP.
I know I'll get downvoted, but they don't spend on freebies because that money goes into punishing people like you who speak against the govt.
The majority of voters here are the shoshit‑vanchit‑peedit who vote purely for freebies. They'll pick the party that hands out freebies over one that builds industrial hubs.
The ruling party is strong; the only chance for the opposition is to offer freebies. It becomes a race to out‑give each other.
If the government launches a big infrastructure project, every environmentalist within a 1,000 km radius will protest, even if there's no real harm. Each of those protestors needs to be fed.
China, on the other hand, has no opposition. Anyone who opposes the government disappears within days.
Innovation will only happen when people stop taking freebies. Indians love freebies – look at Tamil Nadu, where every election is all about them. OP, if you start handing out freebies, you'll win there too.
China doesn't need to placate its citizens with freebies. The government isn't scared of being toppled by another party.
China is a socialist country; wealth distribution is literally their model, lol. They give cash directly to the poor. That isn't called "freebies", but in India schemes like Ladli Behna or Nani‑Dadi Yojana are labelled freebies. I dislike the freebie culture in India, but stop comparing it to China – the biggest "freebie" distributor, lmao.
Take China's Dibao system, where the government hands cash to anyone below the poverty line. That single scheme alone exceeds the fake number you posted. Their total freebie spending is far higher than the ₹20 billion you mentioned.
Chinese R&D: Research and Development.
Indian R&D: Rishwath and Dakshina.
The government's main motive is to win elections, not to run the country.
OP, does China even have a vote‑bank to begin with?
Honest question:
Who's to blame – the parties that promise freebies, the people who accept them, or the laws that allow it? I think we need a law banning direct cash benefits like vote‑buying.
On R&D spending:
The US leads global R&D with about $823 billion (3.45 % of GDP), China follows with $781 billion (2.65 %), while India lags at $75.7 billion (0.7 %) – roughly one‑eleventh of the other two. In the private sector the gap is even wider: USA $722 billion, China $607 billion, India only $6.2 billion, about a hundred times less.
Welfare spending shows a similar pattern – US $1,684 billion, China $560 billion, India about $270 billion. Paradoxically, India spends the highest share of GDP on subsidies (~3 %) but gets the least return, because most of it is electoral hand‑outs, not strategic investment. China's industrial subsidies (~$330 billion) and the US's corporate and farm support (~$600 billion) drive long‑term competitiveness.
China turns subsidies into semiconductors and EVs; India turns them into votes.
People forget that China is a one‑party state while India is a democracy. Since independence, freebies have been the go‑to way to win votes and keep people dependent on the government and its jobs. When a large chunk of the electorate votes for freebies, parties have to hand them out to win, and the BJP is becoming exactly what it promised to change.