With elections round the corner, politicians are dreaming up new ways to bankrupt the exchequer.
With elections round the corner, politicians are dreaming up new ways to bankrupt the exchequer. Telugu Desam (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, once the torch-bearer of reforms and prudence governance, on Thursday announced a direct monthly cash dole of Rs 1,000-2,000 for poor and lower middle class citizens. The scheme, if implemented, will cost the state Rs 20,000 crore annually.
Naidu, while giving out the details of a concept that is still being fine-tuned by the party’s thinktank, said his cash transfer scheme (CTS) would benefit over 1.5 crore people in Andhra Pradesh categorised as “poorest of the poor”, poor or middle class.
Under the scheme, TDP is promising to pay Rs 2,000 to the poorest of the poor, Rs 1,500 to the poor and Rs 1,000 to middle class households every month. “Every household falling in these categories will be given this cash and, as per our understanding, this scheme will be able to solve many grassroot problems like education, malnutrition and other domestic issues,” Naidu explained.
Naidu also promised one colour TV set to every household which did not have one. The DMK promised free TVs to Tamil Nadu’s poor in the 2006 election, when it ousted the AIADMK.
TDP, if it comes to power, has promised to disburse these funds through nationalised banks. Bank accounts will be opened in the name of female members of the family. The account holder will be given an ATM card. The idea, he said, was to avoid disbursements through middlemen.
Naidu said the scheme was aimed at achieving certain key social objectives like universal education, removal of child mortality, improvement of health conditions of the child, mother and family members, removal of malnutrition and women’s empowerment.
“There are school dropouts in every village. Children are dying since there is not enough resource with the family to feed them.”
According to the party’s backroom boys, the scheme is estimated to cost Rs 1,800 crore a month and, after all the adjustments, it would cost Rs 20,000 crore per annum.
In fact, the announcement of the cash transfer scheme has taken political analysts by surprise since Naidu is known to be a pro-reforms leader and was vocal against populist schemes in his earlier stint as chief minister.
Even before the elections of 2004, Naidu went public saying that the free power supply scheme would not be viable. The Congress took the cue and offered free power to farmers. The slogan won many seats for the party and ensured Naidu’s rout.
The first-ever populist scheme to have its impact in the state was the late NT Rama Rao’s Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme. The actor-turned-politician first introduced the scheme in 1983. NTR’s government gave out 5 kg of rice per head per month. Even two decades back, it was the cheapest commodity available in the market.
Though it was designed to merely win an election, NTR’s government continued to supply rice through fair-price shops till he was voted out of power in the next election. However, such was the popular support for the scheme that NTR had no option but to reintroduce it in 1994 when he returned to power.
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