Theme :-

It’s elections time, and hence every party is trying to offer freebies to attract voters. There is so much criticism on freebie politics.

Background :-

The term Freebies is not new; rather it is a prevalent culture in Indian politics. The political parties are always trying to outdo each other in luring the Indian voters with assorted freebies. From free water to free smartphones the Indian politicians promise everything to attract prospective voters in favour. This trend has gained more momentum in the recent times with the political parties being innovative in their offerings as the ‘traditional free water and electricity’ is no longer sufficient as election goodies.

For instance in the recent elections in Telangana, calls were made to people to provide them a pick and drop facility along with food facility on the election day if they vote for the particular party. Another example would be Rajasthan’s CM Vasundhara Raje’s promise to provide subsidised smartphones to 10 million poor people in the state with free data for the first six months. In counter to this, Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered a smartphone to every student who joins a government college.

In 2013, Mr. Subramaniam Balaji challenged the freebie culture in the SC, when the people of Tamil Nadu were offered TV sets, fans, mixer grinders and laptops by parties on winning 2006 and 2011 elections. The SC gave a ruling in the favor of the Tamil Nadu Government when it mentioned that offering freebies in election manifestos cannot be considered as a corrupt practice.

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In India, offering sops has become a mandatory practice, the only question left is which party is able do it better and hence attain fake credibility in the public eye.

Effects of Freebie Politics:

  • It makes citizens irresponsible:

India is among the countries which face hurdles in respect to excessive drinking and gambling habits of its people. Thus offering free food or other free facilities will make the citizens even lazier to work as now they will depend on such benefits provided by the political parties from time to time.

  • It is a never ending trail:

The continuity of freebies is another major disadvantage as parties keep on coming up with lucrative offers to lure more number of votes and thus minimize the risk of losing in the elections. This affects some immature voters as they are blinded by such offers and are unable to judge the prospective leader.

  • Freebies are given out of the tax revenue:

People forget that such benefits are been given at the cost of exchequer and from the tax paid. They consider them as free supplies which creates more expectations from the Government.

  • The poor suffer:

The corrupt politicians and middlemen wipe away the benefits and the poor have to suffer as they are deprived from their share of benefits.

Conclusions:

Over the years political parties have been promoting the freebie culture in name of welfare schemes. These election goodies have taken center stage in the election process and some voters make biased decisions based on account of greater benefits offered rather than the real capability of the leader. This not only has effects on the mind-sets of the people who get crushed in this game of politics but also degrades the importance of election process.

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7 Comments

  • Jitendra Tholiya, Jan 3, 2024 @ 9:07 am Reply

    Freeies have there own advantage and unadvantage. .for the student it is useful like giving laptop ,bicycle and other use ful products but it also affect the voter Bank because in India 90% of people belong to unorganised sector so the cannot thing about freebie .,it is not only problem of our nation many it is a problem of almost whole nation. …
    Jitendra Tholiya

  • Kanchan, Sep 29, 2022 @ 6:20 pm Reply

    First of all there should be a question come to a voters mind that why political parties are giving them such freebies, because most of the time such facilities are given to public either before the elections or during the elections, this is to manipulate the decision making of voters to choose right candidate for the betterment and development of their area for next five years. But in most of time what happens these facilities, caregivers disappear irrespective of the political parties voters choose. So this case might in favour of voters for the time being of elections only but not in long run where a candidate should put his efforts to develop his constituency. Here comes the awareness of the votes to choose candidate for their representation. Though supreme court has ordered in favour of the freebies but at the cost of long term development.

  • Deepak Kumar, Sep 7, 2022 @ 2:57 pm Reply

    First of all, we need to categorize what comes under Welfare and what under Freebies. In my opinion, providing free smart phone, grinders, mixers, TVs etc. should be in the category of Freebies. Whereas, providing free education, free health care, free water up to a limit should be kept in the category of welfare because the things mentioned above are in the practice of making the nation not spoiling the nation.

    From Deepak Kumar

  • Jaidev Singh, Apr 5, 2022 @ 2:31 pm Reply

    Nothing free to public….no reservations in study and posts…. employment…

  • R K Sharma, Mar 26, 2022 @ 6:17 pm Reply

    Why supreme court/election commission do not consider freebie as corruption practice or luring the voters?
    Why any media dare raise this issue again and again irrespective of consideration of ruling party?

  • Kamalakannan, Jan 28, 2019 @ 11:11 pm Reply

    I am from tamilnadu. In our state two political parties continuously promote freebies such as Mixi, grinder and TV sets.but there are other essential freebies promoted by govt like free bus pass, laptops and cycles for students. this freebies are considered as an investment for student’s career growth and not as freebies. so, my opinion is that not all freebies should be banned ,only which targets for vote bank politics should be banned.

    Your replies are welcomed….
    Thank You…

    • Team GD Ideas, Jan 29, 2019 @ 10:00 am Reply

      Investment for students’ career – That’s a good point.

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