Responsible politics and prudent governance require political parties to first make adequate provisioning in the budget before announcing schemes such as free electricity for welfare of subsistence farmers or small-scale industries rather than announcing freebies to only woo voters and put the financial burden on gencos and discoms, a senior functionary in the Union government said on Thursday, requesting anonymity.
Commenting on the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) press conference on Thursday, the official said: “Health and education have always been part of the welfare state principle. Budgetary provisions are made for these sectors by all governments.”
The AAP is deliberately framing the argument in a manner that is wrong, the official said, adding that well planned welfare schemes for the poor with adequate budget are not freebies. “In fact, the NDA government is perhaps the first one to be giving free food over and above the highly subsidised food,” the official said. Immediately after lockdowns caused by Covid-19 in 2020, the Union government announced the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana providing 5kg of free foodgrain to 800 million people every month, which is now running for 2.5 years.
“But, there is no justification for political parties offering freebies that the government’s exchequer cannot afford and will eventually lead to bankruptcy of the state. When they promise free electricity, water or other freebies, they are merely borrowing from future generations to reward present ones,” the official said.
{{/usCountry}}“But, there is no justification for political parties offering freebies that the government’s exchequer cannot afford and will eventually lead to bankruptcy of the state. When they promise free electricity, water or other freebies, they are merely borrowing from future generations to reward present ones,” the official said.
{{/usCountry}}On the AAP’s comment on inadequate funds for paying wages under MGNREGA, the official said: “The fact of the matter is that the government has been flexible and has raised the allocation for MGNREGA as and when needed. Under the Modi government, spending on MGNREGA has always been higher than what was budgeted. The lower allocation to the MGNREGA is only compared to the RE (revised estimate). The BE (budget estimate) for MGNREGA is the same as last year.”
Commenting on the accusation that in 75 years since Independence, for the first time wheat and rice are being taxed, the official said: “It is unbelievable, brazen and total white lies.” Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the issue in Parliament during the recently concluded monsoon session that in the pre-GST regime, states were collecting significant revenue from foodgrain.
The official refuted the accusation that the NDA government waived off ₹10 lakh crore of loans to its “super-rich friends”.
“Write-offs are not waivers. Write-offs are technical requirements as per the RBI, and the recovery process continues. Out of the 12,265 designated wilful defaulters as on March 31, 2022, a suit has been filed against 12,076 (98.5%), FIRs have been lodged against 40.2% and action has been initiated against 75.5%. Banks have recovered over ₹8.6 lakh crore bad loans in the last eight years on account of strong measures initiated by the government and the Reserve Bank of India,” the official said.