Sop Theory

THE MAHARASHTRA government had recently announced that women between the age of 21 to 65 with income below ₹2.5 lakh would be given ₹1,500 per month. You got an indication of pover­ty by the sheer number of applications received, 1 crore in three weeks. This, in a state whose entire women popula­tion is six crores. So, one in six women applied. Not everyone would be deserving. Typically, when anything free is given, everyone tries their luck. Also, a large percentage would have no income because their husbands work. A survey showed that 86 per cent of them were married. A newspaper report quoted activists saying that the number of applications is also because political parties are actively trying to get people to solicit the scheme.

The reason is simple. Maharashtra goes to the polls in a few months and there is now a tested strategy on two counts to get votes. One is to target women because they are increas­ingly becoming independent in voting decisions, and second is the power of the freebie. Such a scheme is out and out transactional, but that is still not a bad thing. Indians have really no social security at all and it is not just because there is not enough money for it. The system has been leaky and not much given at the top would get to the bottom. Also, government structure makes it impossible for the uneducat­ed or not-cunning-enough to negotiate it. But those are precisely who make up the overwhelming majority of voters, and in recent decades smart politicians found that by doling out freebies to them their chances of re-election went up. They had become aware enough to not be fooled by announcements, only real money in their own hands would make them believe. And women were more loyal when they got it. Some chief ministers enjoyed long stints when they cracked this formula. Eventually, they were voted out only because the opposition made the same offers, and more.

It is the reason that a poor country still bends over backwards to give something that it can’t afford. It is a great statement for democracy. It makes no economic sense and could lead to bad consequences but the alternative, for the moment, is worse. And it is now the baseline. If you go by the Lok Sabha results, the ruling coalition of Maharashtra will find it tough to return to power. They could have given this dole anytime in the past but it is desperation that makes them do it now. Voters can obviously see through it and they will decide on their vote, not based on what they got but who they believe will continue to give it to them in future. It is a spiral of freebies that all states will find leading them to a crisis at some point. Already some are in the middle of it. But this is a spiral that the Indian political class invited upon themselves by being callous until it began to cost them power.

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