By Poonam I Kaushish
The stage is set with a perfect electoral cake rolled out by Parties to strains of ‘Vote For Me,’ iced with luscious lip-smacking freebies galore for everyone in the run-up to Capital Delhi’s high-octane poll tamasha on the assumption that populist hand-outs yield better electoral rewards than reasoned policies and sustainable programmes. All in their reckless quest for the silly chair called Delli Raj Gaddi whereby sound economic sense has been surrendered to political gamesmanship. Who cares? After all, Government money is nobody’s money!
Amidst poll cacophony of money talks and cash works, witness how BJP, AAP and Congress aggressively embrace freebies raining populist schemes to win over women voters comprising 46% merrily converting political sops into vote percentages wherein social and economic upliftment is weighed on vote-bank political scales. Specially post BJP-led Mahayuti’s landslide victory was partly due to its cash handouts under the Ladki Bahin Yojana and Ladli Behna Yojana in Madhya Pradesh.
BJP ‘Sankalp Patra’ again makes a pitch for women votes by promising Rs 2,500 monthly aid to counter AAP’s Rs 2100, Rs 21,000 and six nutrition kits for pregnant women, Rs 500 LPG cylinders for poor, increased senior pension for 60-70 years citizens from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500, and from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 for 70-plus citizens, widows, divyangs and destitute to serve as foundation for “developed Delhi” to rival AAP’s welfare-focused governance model.
AAP counteres by accentuating social justice and economic parity as its focal points with 60-plus citizens to receive free treatment in Government-private hospitals, give Resident Welfare Associations money to hire private security guards, guarantees for auto drivers including Rs 1 lakh for daughters’ marriage and life insurance worth Rs10 lakh, Rs 18,000 monthly stipend to mandir-gurdwaras priests-granthis, scholarships for Dalit students.
Congress too advocates narrative of societal equity and justice by promising 300 free units of power, subsidized Rs 500 LPG cylinders, free ration kits, Rs 2,500 monthly for women, complimentary ration kits — with rice, sugar, cooking oil, grains, tea leaves to offset price rise, health insurance coverage of Rs 25 lakhs for all residents and Rs 8,500 monthly stipend for educated, unemployed youths.
Questionably, where do netas get monies to fund these doles? Obviously, by taxing people. Should our hard-earned tax money be used to boost a Parties electoral votebanks? Shouldn’t leaders or their Parties pay for it from their pockets or funds? Should loans be waived? Is freebie different from subsidy? Are they good and bad hand-outs? Who decides?
“People’s power”, is Congress President Kharge’s response. Really? You could have fooled me. Another coos, “Why blame us? In February 2018 Prime Minister gave Rs 25,000 to working women, covering 50% of a two-wheeler cost and PM Kisan Yojna of Rs 6,000 a year to every farmer”. Echoes a BJP leader, “When rich rip-off the banking system, with huge NPAs and write-offs alongside a rent-seeking bureaucratic culture, can we say the poor are too pampered with these freebies? Call it the ‘endowment effect’.”
True, Parties are obliged to be seen as populist as it would be stupid to wish away symbolism and political lollipops to entice voters. But do our narcissist leaders need to act like modern-day feudal maharajas? Wherein, deprived with famished bellies and tattered clothes wait for hours for their mai-baaps to dole out money which doesn’t belong to them? Given the aam janata translate into just sterile statistics to keep the vote-bank tillers ringing.
Alas, competition of promising freebies has gained traction among voters yet economists caution that excessive dependence on such incentives may impede sustained economic progress as revadi lead to financial strain on State revenues which could hinder development of essential infrastructure, notwithstanding Reserve Bank saying economic parameters are OK. Supreme Court too has voiced apprehension vis-a-vis necessity for increased accountability, cautioning against unchecked welfare programs that could potentially compromise a State’s financial well-being.
Ironically, Parties realize the economic situation is worsening with prices rising and high inflation but the vote-pressure has given birth to a bigger irony whereby scarce fiscal resources are diverted from investments that could be beneficial to poor in long-term to boost short-term consumption which does nothing to solve the larger systemic problem of inequality.
See how Congress Himachal Government is struggling to fulfil its poll promises amid significant debt burden whereby State Ministers didn’t withdraw salaries for two months. In Madhya Pradesh the Ladli Behna scheme might have been a game-changer for BJP but Government is groaning under severe financial burden. In August it borrowed Rs 10,000 crore loan taking total debt of State to Rs 4,18,056 crore.
Ditto Punjab’s AAP Sarkar whose outstanding liabilities stand at Rs 3,51,130 crore as it is unable to abide by its poll promises and faces a burgeoning burden of Rs 17,110 crore for free electricity to farmers and households. Congress Karnataka Government also needs Rs 60,000 crore to fulfil 5 poll guarantees. It has increased sales tax on diesel and plans to borrow Rs1,05,246 crore. Telengana Congress is sailing in same boat and requires Rs 31,00 crore for farmers loan waiver.
Consequently, with cash handouts hardwired into manifestoes Parties expose their hypocrisy —everybody uses such schemes — but accuses each other of doling revadi underscoring its systemic and symptomatic of India’s broken political economy than bad political intent. True, growth has created wealth and upward mobility for a section of Indians. But a large majority is living a life of extreme poverty and precarity. Unless they reap rewards of growth, they will continue expecting fiscal palliatives in return for political support.
Alas, successive Governments in their urge to garner voted have taken on spending commitments in areas they shouldn’t have entered if the Constitutional division of spending areas for Centre-States are followed. Resulting in squeeze on resources for strategic sectors like defence. BJP has mastered this model by using centrally-funded schemes to generate political tailwinds. Thereby, increasing insecurity of Opposition Parties which add fuel to fire by seeking political insurance from populism.
Who will bell the cat? Clearly, care should be taken to draw a distinction between welfarism and freebies. Welfarism takes into account needs of different sections of society as part of a large development framework. Freebies are guided by vote banks, not social concerns. It essentially implies granting concessions which have no economic rationale and are not part of larger economic planning as enunciated by Government.
Highlighting that free-falling gift is the reality of grinding garibi, which continues to haunt us after 78 years of Independence. Remember, hand-outs will only provide immediate succour at the expense of the entire future. It is no remedy for neglect of education, health, faulty priorities vis-a-vis industrialization and under-investment in rural areas, growth of corruption and bloated bureaucracy, over-population and apathy to greater productivity. A Government cannot afford to throw away money on populist whims.
Time our leaders concentrate on the big picture. Wherein, energies are channelized to address poverty through faster, broad-based growth, supported by well-functioning delivery mechanisms. The effort must be to reduce number of people in need of handouts. The way forward is imbibing fiscal prudence both in letter and spirit to avoid this race to the bottom. Leaders must draw a ‘lakshman rekha.’ —- INFA
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