How freebies are helping politicians and political parties in India to form the government, should be the topic to debate, research and study. Be it the State Governments or the Central Government of India is offering freebies in some or other forms; be it welfare schemes, free electricity, free water and free Healthcare facilities at the cost of taxpayers. There is no doubt that these so-called “freebies” are helping the citizens in India which include people with weaker economic status or the elite and the rich people everyone is getting benefits out of it.
Now the question arises if everyone is getting benefits then what should be the problem? The problem is not just limited to the development of the states in India or the country as a whole, the problem is more than that. As per the statistics of the National Food Security Portal, the Department of Food and Public Distribution the total number of ration card beneficiaries are more than 70 crores and as per the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) portal more than 134 crore Aadhaar card issued to the people in India; which means more than 50% people are getting subsidised food grain or completely free which is not just limited to wheat and rice but before election people start getting free cooking oil, sugar, spices and these “freebies” are offered at the cost of taxpayers and if we talk of numbers of taxpayers, it is even less than 9 crores; which means on every single taxpayer, there is a burden of at least 15 to 20 people.
At the time of the election campaign in India, the political parties and the politician do many promises to uplift the backward communities, raise deprived and poor people, equal rights and opportunities for all, job offers in the public sector. Now a new era of election campaigns has started and this so-called “new era of the election campaigns” is nothing but an era of “freebies”. The “Poverty alleviation” used to be an old and the main motto of the election campaigns and there is no doubt that during the “Poverty alleviation” regime political parties succeed and won many elections and ruled the nation for decades but on the ground, the harsh truth is poor became poorer and the rich became richer.
It is necessary that government should help the people is raising their social and economical status, but there should be a parameter to decide “who should be helped”; instead of distributing “freebies” to everyone in order to win the election and form the government, the political parties and the politicians need to rethink if they really want a “New India”, “Developed India” and “Self-reliance India”. It is also in the hands of the common people to decide what really they want. “Freebies” or “Self-reliance” with “Self-reliance India” and cast their vote accordingly.
In 2013, the High Court of Tamilnadu referred to “freebies” as corrupt practices and said it need should be banned. Now, the matter is in the Apex Court of India to ban “freebies” practices which include, free electricity, free water supply, free travel in buses and so on.
Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and Central Bureau of Investigation exposed many scams, and corruption and arrested several politicians in the last 2 to 3 decades. The moment these agencies raid and start investigations the political parties and their leaders first call it political vendetta, fake allegations and when the investigations are proven and announced guilty by the court, their leaders sideline themselves and divert the issue by calling these agencies as puppets.
