Freebies: A culture of catastrophe
- ASCI Journal of Management
- 53(1&2), Mar & Sep., 2024: p17-34
At the announcement of elections by Election Commission of India (ECI), the political parties come into motion and announce various electoral attractions. With utmost neglect to financial health of State, the political parties blabber about election bonanza before public as a door to tinsel world. The difference between welfare measures and freebies for public, though thin, is clear. Broadly speaking, public distribution system, employment schemes and state’s support for education and health are considered as welfare expenses. Conversely, free electricity, periodical cash guarantees, free water, free public transportation, waiver of pending utility bills and farm loan waivers fall in freebies group.Freebies linked with growth of individual or State is not a road to wisdom. Rather, it is elevator which can take us only to bottomless pitch of hell. To sift welfare measures from the politically coated freebies it is suggested that a wing within the ECI should be in place as a watch dog. The three member wing should be headed by a retired Supreme Court or High Court Judge with two seasoned members from public. Let all political parties submit their respective manifestos, before that is authenticated for publication, to this wing of ECI on or before a fixed date for vetting.With strengthening of ECI, the dispassionate electorates can change the mindset of political parties. If there is hope, it lies in the electorates. If only they could become conscious of their own strength and capability, they need only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies. - Reproduced