Ishita Bandral
Freebies stand for anything which is provided for free or any facility provided without any charges. The very concept of freebies is enshrined and supported by directive principles of state policy as a welfare measure for uplifting deprived classes. On one side we thought of an egalitarian society where everyone is more or less equally situated but on the other hand India has so many problems to deal with like poverty, unemployment, corruption and illiteracy. Now the question arises how to secure the basic amenities to the most deprived people and somewhere freebies provide a glance to help them out. Looking at the marvelous history of India, we feel highly immense but we cannot out rightly forget the dark past an example of which is the practice of untouchability, harsh divisions among Kshatriya and Shudras. As a result of this, at present society has been divided into have and have not. ‘Have’ categorizes those people who possess blind wealth including big businessmen, bureaucrats and political leaders; on the contrary, ‘have not’ speaks of that section of people who are unable to manage their square meals. So, if any free facility is being provided to this category of the society, out of public funds, then why does it create a debate. Having access to basic amenities of life like food, water, shelter, electricity is fundamental and its State’s responsibility to ensure the availability of these amenities to all on constitutional as well as moral grounds.
India is a country which always believes in sharing, peace and brotherhood. This is our heritage and legacy to carry forward. We would never deny food or shelter even to our enemy whereas these are our own people. Helping them out of public taxes is not a misuse; rather it is the appropriate use. The simplest thing is that if we want to develop we need to develop the majority of those who are in poverty or extreme poverty and this freebie is one way. According to data, Delhi Government provides free electricity, special bus facility to women (pink bus) and Gujarat govt. has no such measure but still produces less revenue than Delhi. The question is why this disparity, if freebies are such a misuse of the economy. The reality is that this question of freebies is nothing but just a political tactic to keep the discussion about anything on flame to gain popularity and raise unnecessary issues for next elections. Why only after corona we are challenging these freebies while they were in existence before that as well? Adding to it, we had a gross loss of economy due to the pandemic and now we are doing nothing but just trying to channelize our loss to different points like pre-poll freebies. This shows lack of functionality on the part of the government. The current scenario relates with the question of pre-poll freebies. Political parties generally promises to provide relief much talked as Freebies for those people, who are still fighting for ‘Roti, Kapda Aur Makan’ but in actuality after registering win in elections riding on these freebies they build their empire (government) with flying flags on the fake promises, they suddenly forget every promise for 5 years and after 5 years when time of election arrives again, they again take up same issues for gaining vote bank and this never-ending vicious circle goes on. Poor public who have no one to support, having no option for help, helplessly again trusts those that breaches their promises and never gets basic human facilities. This gloomy picture forces us to think that in this kind of scenario pre poll freebies are a kind measure. The inner conscience of a political leader will never awaken but at least out of greed for votes they will make the administration provide basic human facilities to those who deserve it in the name of pre-poll freebies.
The contrary view is that besides aiding, these pre-poll freebies are often misused by political parties to gain vote banks. During, propagandizing these freebies is used by leaders as a bait to entangle the public in their trap and in turn, they form a majority government. At present, the Supreme Court is looking at the issue of freebies whether to ban them as pre poll promises. The Election Commission is determined towards it. To be precise, freebies is neither a bad option nor a misuse of the economy to develop India where the majority is suffering but corrupting our morals is doing more harm. In the world’s biggest democracy like India political leaders must come out of the sphere of corruption and show some political spirit of fair play. Adopting socialist principles, they must come out with an effective plan which can bloom principles of ‘Equality and Justice’ for all.
