We always boast ourselves for being part of the largest democratic country in the World. Of course, where will we find the freedom that India provides right from throwing trash on roads to laws with loopholes for the safety of so-called power-hungry politicians?. The general elections are around and India is once again gearing up to triumph its democratic processes.
Politicos are already busy procuring money to distribute in their respective constituencies. The entire process of procuring, hiding and distributing without being caught takes a great deal of planning for them, the hard work which they are reluctant to make for the cause of the public and thereby, win an election. Of course, this is the story of the opposition candidates in the current situation.
No, I don’t mean to say that ruling parties do not indulge in buying votes….they have found an official way of doing it now!!
The drama of welfare schemes:
The last two years before an election plays a key role in increasing the winning chances of a ruling party, as people remember and thrive in the present more than the past. This is the period where one can see a whole variety of welfare schemes and new job notifications from the government to make us believe that the government is ‘trustable’ and is indeed working.
In this process, the onus is on the ruling party to satisfy all the vote banks to garner maximum votes. One scheme will not fit all and hence the need for multiple schemes. And this is where the planning and execution of TRS is can be seen. As promised KCR has tried his best to implement 12% reservation for the Muslims (stalled by the Centre and SC), provided increased pensions to widows, handicapped and elders, lucrative increments to government employees, waiver of farmer loans and so on.
According to a survey carried by a popular media house, Indian states are more favoured towards welfare schemes involving direct money transfer more than the development of infrastructure. This has changed the face of politics in 2019. In 2014, the calls for farm loan waiver was on high and it included in the election manifesto of almost every party in India. But, the trend has changed with TRS implementing the Rythu Bandhu scheme. The scheme was so successful that even the NDA government acknowledged it to be one of the factors for TRS’s win in 2018 and decided to use it for itself for 2019 elections.
If we remove the emotional angle of helping the farmers’ community from the picture for a while, in a plain language…the governments are actually distributing the money officially in the name of schemes and thereby, impressing the vote banks. This holds true for even other sections of the society in Telangana. Telangana now offers direct benefits to students, widows, elders, Geetha workers, farmers and even to the unemployed.
KCR has promised to sanction Rs 3,000 per month to the unemployed as part of the ‘Nirudyoga Bruthi’ scheme. The million dollar question is why can’t the government use the funds required to run the scheme to create a minimum number of jobs. There are around 20 lakh unemployed candidates in Telangana who are only increasing with every year and at this point, the government will have to spend a lot of money to support the ‘Nirudyoga Bruthi’ scheme.
The same holds true even for the agriculture sector. The government must check the middlemen atrocities on farmers and provide them with proper MSPs. A mere 4,000 allowance will not save a poor farmer from suicide. Hence, it is high time that governments stop focusing on election-oriented policies and work for the overall development of the State.