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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS
28 October, 2021
8 Min Read
Freebie Culture in Politics and Democracy
Context: This topic is important for UPSC GS Paper 2 and Essay.
In a democratic setup state undertakes welfare measures as a matter of civil rights to its citizens .But the rising freebies culture cultivate a patron-client syndrome and jeopardise free and fair election in the country.
A freebie culture- Tamil Nadu Example
The culture of freebies in Tamil Nadu was started during the 1967 Assembly elections. The then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief offered three measures of rice for ?1.
The practice of providing freebies was followed by subsequent Chief Ministers of both the DMK and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), who promised free TV sets, free laptops to students, free rides for women in buses, free gas cylinders and stoves, a goat and a cow for poor farmers, and so on.
Impact of Freebies Culture
No direct benefit in creation of social infrastructure
Impacts the civil rights of poor and marginalised
It promotes Inequality and exclusion
A Dichotomy
Theoretically, there is a qualitative distinction between being subjects in an authoritarian regime and being citizens in a democratic polity. Unsolicited freebies cultivate a patron-client syndrome and encourage personality cults in a democratic polity.
Besides, they affect the critical faculties of citizens, particularly the poor and the marginalised. Providing freebies is to treat people like subjects, whereas citizens are entitled to constitutional guarantees.
Way Forward
Welfare initiatives are an embodiment of civil rights, whereas unsolicited freebies show benevolence at best and apathy at worst towards the poor by the ruling parties. Moreover electoral reforms making regulation over freebies must be mooted.
Source: The Hindu
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