Politicians are making generosity with public money a habit. Finance ministers keep waiving off loans, PSUs keep waiving off debt, babus keep getting pay hikes for doing nothing, and now even a political non-entity called Rahul Gandhi appears to be unhappy with P Chidambaram’s Rs600 billion largesse. Gandhi wants the waiver spread to be bigger.
Yes why not, it ain’t going from his pocket, is it? And not for a second am I saying that farmers shouldn’t be helped. Any citizen in distress should receive comfort from the government. My question: is waiver of loans the correct way to go about it? My answer: No.
By indulging in such political gimmicks all we are doing is relegating the farmer from the farmer class to the beggar class. And what makes the government think that a one-time waiver is going to prevent the farmer from assuming additional debt? Or does this and successive governments plan a similar or larger waiver every 10 years?
As for Rahul Gandhi’s demand, I have one question for the not so young leader. If you loan out a million dollars of your personal money to someone, would you so willingly waive of that amount on humanitarian grounds? Your political answer may be yes, but all of us know that you won’t do so and nor would any other politician.
That brings me to the question of are governments right in using public money for political gains? Again the answer is NO. And the waiver in this budget is just that, vote bank politics.
The Congress which always claims to be the messiah of the poor has been in power for almost 50 of the 60 years since independence. And they have shown similar largesse many a times in these 50 years in power. Then why is it that the number of poor has increased? If largesse works then shouldn’t the number of poor have declined significantly?
Indira Gandhi raised the slogan Garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) about 35 years ago. Sadly in many cases we have seen the party and its members eradicating the poor for personal gains (read real estate) and most of the times resorting to tokenism.
So when Rahul Gandhi talks of increasing the dole, it makes my blood boil. Why should I, a tax payer, fund these hair-brained, politically motivated flights of fancies of politicians, be it Rahul Gandhi or LK Advani? Tax payers do not work 12 to 14 hours a day so that political parties can keep milking the country dry for narrow personal and political gains.
It would make greater sense for politicians to use this money to build irrigation systems for farmers, teach them alternative professions that can help generate a livelihood in times when farming is not an option. Use this money for building roads, bridges, dams, airports, rail networks, the list is endless.
People can argue that these things are being done. I agree. But is enough being done? The answer again is NO.
I guess it’s time for us the commons to wake up and start asking the government to be accountable for the money that they spend, cut wasteful expenditure, stop resorting to political gimmicks, and build a nation that can compete with the best in the world.
It’s high time we stop just wearing our patriotism on our sleeves and start showing it through our actions. What say friends, are we game or are we content with things the way they are and wait for a white knight to come and save us, rather than assuming the responsibility of nation-building?
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