Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, 03-04-2024: An old woman showing the pension received by her at a ward secretariat in Vijayawada on Wednesday. Photo: Giri KVS/ The Hindu | Photo Credit: GIRI KVS
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, 28-04-2024: The TDP has promises to implement free bus ride for women in APSRTC buses if voted to power in the State. PHOTO: G N RAO / THE HINDU | Photo Credit: RAO GN
The politics of freebies, now an inseparable component of Indian democracy, is also ruling the roost in Andhra Pradesh. Various political parties have made it apparent in their manifestos and promises during major public meetings that they cannot appeal for votes without promising freebies, on a competitive scale, to the public.
Walking in the same path, YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy released the party’s manifesto on Saturday, and as expected, it is loaded with promises of welfare schemes and freebies. Carrying forward his ‘Nava Ratnalu’ welfare schemes which helped him bag the Chief Minister post in the 2019 elections, he promised to increase further the financial assistance provided through some of the schemes.
During Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure, as per the official figures, an amount of ₹2,54,894 crore was credited into the accounts of beneficiaries of 29 DBT schemes between June 2019 and January 2024. This is in addition to ₹1,70,873 crore spent on various non-DBT schemes, including loans, scholarships, house sites, PDS rice, power subsidy and distribution of tabs to students.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader and TDP chief Mr. Naidu is not far behind in announcing freebies to the public, either. He included them in his manifestos in the 2014 and 2019 elections. A couple of months ago, he declared the TDP’s ‘Super Six’ manifesto at a public meeting in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
‘Super Six’ is laden with welfare initiative promises such as ₹3,000 per month for every unemployed youth, three free gas cylinders a year for every household, free bus rides for women and ₹20,000 for every farmer as annual seed capital.
A detailed and final manifesto is still awaited. The Super Six formulae were declared after a detailed deliberation with Pawan Kalyan, the leader of its alliance partner JSP.
Upon observing the trend of freebie-dominated electioneering, a senior political scientist said: “The politics of freebies has been part and parcel of Indian politics since the beginning. Initially, it was just an element in the overall manifesto and necessary for the development of the downtrodden, as the country was in a severe economic and social crisis post-Independence. Not that the downtrodden do not require the schemes or support now; they probably need it more now. But at what cost? The entire political narrative now revolves around these freebies to attract the vote bank. Be it any political party, the State’s exchequer cannot be drained out to fund the schemes and neglect the development sector.”
The political parties are not only trying to woo the voters with more innovative schemes but are competing with each other by increasing the financial benefit slab.
When Chandrababu Naidu had formed the government in 2014, he increased the old age pension from ₹200 to ₹1,000 and at present Jagan is paying ₹3,000.
In his latest manifesto, he promised to increase the pension to ₹3500 by January 2029 in a phased manner. He promised to increase it by ₹250 in January 2028 and by another ₹250 in January 2029.
