DNA Edit: Politics vs Economics - Voter interest is more important than the exchequer

Only if politicians would be as generous with voters as they are before the general election, life could turn a new leaf. With polls slated for May-June this year, it is not just the Centre that is playing Santa Claus.

Political parties and their Chief Ministers, too, are pulling out all stops to woo voters in the most fancy and innovative ways. While Congress loan waivers for farmers have hit the headlines, there are other more surreptitious methods to get around to the voter, as Assam and Madhya Pradesh — to quote just two examples — have demonstrated. After the Centre had set the tenor with its proposed income support for agriculturists, state governments have suitably followed with their own freebies.

In BJP-ruled Assam, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has thrown the political gauntlet to his rivals by offering gold, estimated to cost Rs 38,000, for brides from families with an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh. If that was not enough, he has also promised ‘e-bikes’ for all girls who secure first division in the higher secondary examination.

Just to get a sense of what it could entail, 3,80,733 students appeared for the Assam higher secondary in 2018 and over 54,000 managed to get a first division. While exact numbers are not available, the number of girls who secured a first division, could easily run into a few thousands!

In addition, a one-time subsidy of Rs 50,000 on all educational loans sanctioned during the current financial year has been promised. Predictably, no one in the Assam government can quite say where the money for such largesse is going to come from.

Madhya Pradesh, which got a new government a few weeks ago, is also promising the moon. This week, the state government is expected to announce a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 4,000. In doing so, they have just pipped Rajasthan, which has assured anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 for the same purpose.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath has more up his sleeve. He also plans to roll out a scheme guaranteeing 100 days of work for the urban youth, as well as double social security pension for the elderly from Rs 300 to Rs 600. The Left Front government in Kerala may not normally indulge in rampant populism, but it can ill afford to keep its electorate unhappy. Hence, it has deferred its plan to levy a ‘flood cess’ on GST.

The state government has argued for the cess on the ground that the money thus mopped up would be used for repairing the damage caused by the calamity. Now, it would appear that the state government may be willing to wait until the general election is over.

In a poll year, an additional levy could turn out to be costly affair. The point to be noted here is that the freebies — damaging to the exchequer as they are and adding to the fiscal deficit of the states as they do — are not a new phenomenon. The only difference this time around is that the poll is expected to be more keenly contested.