At last, the Supreme Court has been constrained to take cognizance of the emerging culture of freebies in India that has been catching fast across the board among the political parties.
It seems that it would take an initiative to end the menace. It has told the political parties a week's time to nominate members of a proposed committee that the court wants to constitute, to study the problem and suggest measures for tackling it. The Centre has promptly accepted the court's viewpoint that freebies are harmful to the nation and they need to be ended in the best interest of democracy. Chief Justice of India NV Ramana wants the Election Commission and the Centre to play a key role in implementing the suggestions of the committee.
The political parties in India often resort to throwing freebies in successive elections, whether they are to the civic bodies or the Assembly or Parliament. Do these political parties have the moral or ideological strength to abjure freebies while seeking votes on their political, social and economic agenda. Freebies, otherwise known as handouts, have in the past proved effective in winning elections. If a television receiver was the freebie that helped a lady to win a southern state, it was the promise of free electricity up to 200 units per family that helped a regional party in the north. Even national parties like the BJP and the Congress cannot afford to face an election without promising freebies to the electorate. On their part, the voters have also come to take for granted such handouts as if they are their birthright.
This emerging culture has dangerous portends as the voters no longer base their decision on what a political party has stood for or has sacrificed in furtherance of the common good. Their decision is influenced by the value of the freebies like free electricity in Punjab, bicycles for every girl student in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and earlier it was free Laptop, and ration kits as in Kerala. They lead to economic and environmental disasters like in Punjab where free electricity has encouraged farmers to dig wells that are deeper and deeper to draw out water, which is often wasted. Remember the promise of computer tablets at throwaway prices that the government could not eventually deliver. The utility of freebies itself has become questionable, as every party competitively offers free goods and services. The one that offers the best should win but there is no such guarantee, as despite offering the moon, the Congress could win only two seats in Uttar Pradesh.
In the early years of post independence, the voters used to vote for the parties or candidates they thought would effectively represent them and ensure the progress of the nation. The MLAs and MPs thought that their primary job was making laws — until the MP and MLA local area development funds were given to them to build roads and public utilities. Soon, they began to be seen as glorified contractors and their success was measured on the quantity of concrete used for construction. Freebies have become counterproductive.
Freebies from political parties are ruinous for the economy and the social fabric, but no party has had the courage to eschew them.
