FREE LUNCH

FREE LUNCH

Why do we work? There might be different reasons depending upon varying circumstances but primarily it’s because of the necessity to fulfill our never-ending needs. What if we get our needs fulfilled without working? Hindu mythology has a concept of “kaamdhenu”, a cow who fulfills all desires of her owner. May be that’s the concept fantasized by many. Imagine an island where nobody works and everybody is paid well just to live there. Sounds Utopian but there is an issue. This island will not grow, will not evolve and will never achieve any height. There is not even a single example where success came without hard work. Then why do people get mesmerized by freebies and why is this freebie politics so popular in India?

Population of a nation can be its strength or weakness. It depends upon how the nation channelizes its energy in the form of demographic dividend. The nation is built by its people, the intentions and motivations of its dwellers, the dream to achieve and capability to live that dream. There are nations which give “Unemployment Allowances” to its citizens because they take it as their moral duty to provide everybody with job , but those are the countries which experiences highest participation of citizens in nation building in the form of tax payment and very rarely people rely upon unemployment allowance, it’s not a matter of pride to have one. On the opposite side of this spectrum lies India where people are fighting to be called “backward” in order to reap benefits of freebie bonanza.

Since 2014 there is an echo of 15 lakhs in everybody’s account. I am amused by thinking how people expect so much money for doing nothing in return. There is no free lunch in this world and if there is any, it’s bad for the digestive system of the body. Midnight, all of a sudden everybody receives 15 lakhs in their account. What will happen? The entire economy will crash, every company will lose millions and billions and the nation will come to standstill. We will become even poorer, but no, people dream of those freebies without thinking about the repercussions.

Let’s talk about the latest fashion in Indian political arena- “Farm loan waivers”. This one term will require entire book to explain how dangerous it is to the economy. This is being done at the cost of other expenses meant for much needed infrastructural development. But the intelligent public still votes for these freebies and perhaps that’s why Mr. Rahul Gandhi offered another lollipop of farm loan waiver in order to end “His” party’s 22 years’ drought in Gujarat. When Gujarat is here, can Delhi be far behind? What happened in 2015? Free water, free wifi, reduced prices of electricity etc. Why? Why do politicians think that the public need these beggary? Why after 70 years of independence, the manifestos of almost all the parties reflect so many freebies? Why do we still talk about subsidies? This means the government is not thinking about empowering people, rather crippling them.

Butterfly gets wings only if the cocoon is broken from inside otherwise the caterpillar dies. How much burden the exchequer is facing today? Let’s count just a few reasons. Very low tax bracket of population (only around 3% of population), subsidies on petroleum products, PDS for food grains, NPAs of banks, bankruptcy of industries, loss in PSUs, perennial disasters etc. Now these freebies are only adding burden on the already distorted economy. They are reducing the pace of development and how ironical is to say that public demands both. Nobody is ready to let go off these freebies.

70 years of independence, still people fight for “reservation “ and these are the people who say India should show some “empathy”. Have you ever thought at what cost you are getting these benefits? Think about all that can be done with the amount of money wasted on these freebies. Oh sorry, I forgot you are a mob who doesn’t have rationality to think. Enjoy your free lunch in the same broken shades on the outskirts, looking at the glamour of the city as the city rises high with its “working” capital.