Freebies and Democracy in India.

 Freebie culture is very prevalent in indian politics, especially in states with regional political parties are at forefront. It may come to the people's hand in the form of TV, washing machines, cycles, Subsidies, free electricity, free water supply, loans, loan weavers etc. Some of such offers are fulfilled and some others not. The question is not about what all promises were hollow, and what all were realistic. The big question is whether this practice of freebie culture by itself is good or bad...These offers from the political parties could create great appeal among the public to win elections. Although it serves the purpose of people's welfare as its short term goal, it may get toxic to the roots of democracy in many ways in its long course. Recently, constitutional bodies like supreme court, and election commission have discussed this issue and RBI, Prime ministers office and some economists also criticised this practice, after considering its economic impact.

Infact, the reply given to the supreme court by Election commission of india in this regard is very interesting. EC says 'we cant clearly define freebies, so how can we take any actions against it..? This is exactly the reason why this practice can't be checked or regulated. One can say freebies as something given out for free without considering any particular merit. Its an irrational spending by the state, unfair to tax payers, and of course a financial burden on the state. But the concept of welfare can bypass all such arguments in a public domain.

Recently, a BJP leader named Aswini upadhyaya approached the Supreme court to check the legal validity of freebies and then the honorable court has called all stakeholders connected with it and asked for an amicable solution. While hearing the petition, supreme court opined that freebies are dangerous and it effects the spirit of democracy. At the same time,RBI's Report on state's finance, has disclosed the debt burdens of different states and it points out freebies as the main reason.

If we look at the statistics, we can see that in 2022 itself, there is such promises from the political parties worth one lakh crores rupees. This figures are well marked in the states like Andrapradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Tamilnadu etc.. When we look at debt to GDP ration state wise, its Punjab whose public debt is very alarming. In total, se freebies not just drain the public exchequer but also undermines the credit culture of our banking system. It distorts pricing mechanism if the freebies are given in the form of subsidies and also creates inflationary pressure when the money is pushed into circulation without any economic rationale. This populist practice is not actually a level playing field as the party in power can literally buy more voters and increase their vote bank. In that way, its boosting for the party in power, but donot make much leverage to the opposition parties. So, freebies are not so fair in tandem with the Democratic spirits.

If we can't strictly differentiate whats a freebies and what are welfare schemes, the best way to address this issue is by properly educating the public on how to exercise their rights to know from where all these money is coming. People must be enlightened to think that something is given without merit or not in the way of a targeted delivery, its simply drains the public wealth without creating anything in return except debt burden..