- There is a certain uniqueness to the Indian political landscape that many other democratic countries may not witness. In our country, one or the other form of election is perpetually underway around the year is a well-known fact. And cultivating vote banks is one of the most actively pursued parameters by political leaders, irrespective of party affiliations, by piggy-riding on the back of primarily labyrinthine caste equations, ably aided by imprudent freebies. Thus, Indian elections are always based upon incentives, inducements, assurances, promises, and of course, freebies/populism thrown in for good measure.
PC: Rajesh Kumar Sinha
- Unfortunately, citizens too are not averse to receiving dole-outs when political parties go about grandly announcing the same come elections. The moot point to ponder over here is at what cost these freebies are thrown around so illogically. Undoubtedly, fiscal prudence is the casualty leading to cascading effects on the economy. Now, there are very few politicians who would espouse legitimate concerns for the fiscal well-being of the nation as the majority would want to entice the electorate with unhindered inducements. Thus, populist measures announced to attract certain segments of society have become a norm rather than an exception.
- Against this backdrop comes reports about the top central bureaucrats expressing concern over state-level populist schemes and freebies during the recent meeting with the Prime Minister. This should be another reminder to political parties that the fiscal party for vote-getting is not costless. As mentioned above, politicians have found freebies to be an easy way to reach out to low-income voters and some powerful interest groups. This is nothing but a cross-party, across-ideology tendency and although governing parties at the Centre are not free of this sin, the rush to populism is most evident in states.
PC: News On Air
- Recollect how the UP’s victorious BJP promised free electricity for farmers, free scooters for female college students, and two free LPG cylinders. Further, in Punjab, AAP vowed 300 units of free power to every household and Rs. 1,000 monthly allowances for every woman. Now, UP has 2.3 crore farm holdings and Punjab has 55 lakh households suggesting thousands of crores in revenue outgo just on power promises. Imagine what would be the burden on the exchequer. Mind you, while the bureaucrats reportedly flagged Punjab, Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Bengal, BJP-governed states are no paragons of good spending either.
- Even the CAG recently directed states like Telangana and Kerala to include off-budget borrowings to dole out freebies by circumventing borrowing limits in their annual budget statements. The price that states, their residents, and coming generations incur from populism financed by borrowings and entailing long-term interest payments is clear. So much so that even during Covid’s public health emergency, states just spent 6.6% of primary expenditure on healthcare against the National Health Policy’s 8% target. Sadly, funds for capital and critical social expenditure get sacrificed instead of improving schools and hospitals. Hopefully, state political parties will show more maturity, wisdom, and pragmatism vis-à-vis fiscal prudence in the days ahead.
