Structuring populism

Abstract

It is time that we looked at freebies and waivers as irresponsible use of public resources for which the parties and governments should be reprimanded. Election season brings out the competitive populism of different political parties, but over a period of time, they seem to have exhausted all the ideas and are moving into ridiculous “return gifts” to the voters. In this light, it was very apt for the Planning Commission to advise the States to exercise restraint on “freebies” and invest in schemes that provide long term benefits. More recently the Supreme Court has also advised the Election Commission to put the freebies under a scanner. Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/content/343199/structuring-populism.html