MEDIA COMMUNALISM
By S R Ramanujan
_________________________________________________________________________
In one of his responses to media “interrogation”, Jawaharlal Nehru’s great grandson and a political debutant Varun Gandhi said that he was being targeted simply because he was a “Gandhi”. What he probably meant was that because he was an “estranged Gandhi”, he was on the firing line of his rivals, no prizes for the guess, and specially the English media. The speech that was attributed to him, doctored or otherwise, was certainly not in good taste. His defence that while his speech did not incite any single individual for nearly 15 days was by itself a pointer that there was no malice on his part may not wash either.
However, the role of media is certainly open to question. While reporting that it was a “hate speech” “blatantly communal” etc, did the media behave responsibly by telecasting the tape umpteen times a day for the last few days. If the media really believed that the speech was intended to or likely to cause unrest among a section of the people, do the repeat telecasts of the speech make any sense, or does it show the media as a responsible institution?
When the Election Commission sincerely believes that it was indeed a “hate speech” and might cause communal disturbances, it should have intervened and restrained the media from repeat telecast. Media did its job by reporting the event with the CD supplied to all channels by a mysterious source. Follow up stories need not always be with the same offensive CD. Finding an excuse to repeat the telecast of the CD does only expose the channels’ real intentions. May be, it helps those who charge the mainline channels of being anti-majority.
Though conventional ethics demands that the source need not be disclosed, on instances like this, where the CD is not the result of the efforts put in by the reporting staff, revealing the source might help viewers make up their mind as to the intentions of those behind the CD that is dished out to them atleast a dozen times a day irrespective of the genuineness of the CD especially when Varun is harbouring a conspiracy theory. This is analogous to the tendency of both print and electronic media decrying obscenity while printing and showing such obscene pictures without any restraint as an excuse to deal with the subject and in the process titillating the readers and viewers.
Varun Gandhi made certain observations relating to the context in which he made objectionable statements. He was citing the atrocities, real or imaginary, committed on the majority community in the border constituency of Pilibhit. Should not the media make its own independent investigation into the charges made by the fresher in politics rather than repeating the telecast of the same CD? Is the media afraid that it will not help its ultra secular image?
When National Conference leader Omar Abdullah made a speech during the Trust Vote in the Lok Sabha stating that he was proud to be a Muslim and an Indian, media was hunky dory over his speech and it was considered the best speech in recent times in Parliament. He was equivocal on Amarnath issue during the speech and his role during the Amarnath agitation is no secret to the citizens of this country. But the media did not think he was communal or practising divisive politics when he spoke for Muslims.
Take the case of Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen (MIM). Everyone knows how rabidly communal the party is. Well, it is a different story that the MIM was an ally of the UPA in the last elections. Now, the party wants to have the veto power in the appointment of Police Commissioners or Director General of Police in Andhra Pradesh. MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi petitioned the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of AP against the inclusion of a particular officer in the panel for the top Police post stating that his “communal and high-handed was had alienated him from the Muslims of Andhra Pradesh”. So, the basic pre-condition for appointment to the top police post, it seems, is that he/she should enjoy the confidence of the minority community. If the majority community makes a similar demand, well, we know what would be the reaction of the media. The community or its leaders will attract instant criticism that they are divisive and communal. But the national media is silent over the MIM’s demand.
Abdul Nassar Madhani’s terror links and the Kerala CPI-M’s proximity to him is no news for the national media. Interestingly, while the chief minister betrays his helplessness on the issue stating that it takes time for him to get information from his intra-party rival and the state home minister, the latter feels there is no need for an enquiry into Madanis’ terror links. The party wants Madani’s PDP support to win elections. Never mind the fundamentalist nature of the PDP’s policies and programmes. For the freshers, Madani was the one who master-minded the Coimbatore blast in the nineties to assassinate L K Advani who, however, had a narrow escape.
The latest is Imran Kidwai’s Chandigarh speech. Though he made the “hate speech” on March 15 nearer to Delhi and not in the far off Pilibhit, and the BJP petitioned the EC on March 19 with the CD, which was circulated to the media by the party, the national media did not seem to have picked up the story. Imran Kidwai is a senior Congress leader and he said “I regret not being a mufti. Had I been one, I would have issued just one fatwa that going with the BJP amounts to committing kufr”. AICC in-charge for Punjab Moshina Kidwai and party candidate and Union Minister Pawan Banswal were reportedly present at the public meeting in which Imran is alleged to have made this statement. This seems to be a perfectly secular sermon for our media. Hence, the deafening silence?
In contrast, on the same day, Mallika Sarabhai’s decision to take on Advani in Gandhinagar was a great developing story for most of the national channels. There was a “live” debate with her in atleast two English channels. While the anchors conceded that there was “negligible” chance of her winning, and that her real intention may be to hog publicity, the debate, nevertheless, continued for quite some time. Of course, in all fairness to her, she maintained that her foray into electoral politics was not to score a point or two on secularism.
An interesting side-show for this secular-communal diatribe is the petition filed by the “Vaishnavites” of Andhra Pradesh before the CEO, Hyderabad, against the CPI-M state secretary B V Raghvulu who asked the state finance minister K Rosaiah to wear “namam” and roam the streets of Andhra Pradesh as a mendicant. Vaishnavites felt that their sentiments were hurt by Raghavulu’s statement as he ridiculed their sacred “namam”. For the uninitiated, what the Chief Election Commissioner Gopalaswamy wears on his forehead is “namam”. Even this story had no takers in the national media.
The lesson, therefore, is communalism, whether prefixed with the labels like “majority” or “ minority” need not be confined to men occupying political space in this country. Media cannot be far away from it.
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
PAWAR TO BE LEFT IN THE LURCH?
BE LEFT IN THE LURCH?
By S R Ramanujan
Maharashtra strongman and Nationalist Congress Party chief, Sharad Pawar, who sees Third Front as a force to reckon with, is all set to unleash the cat among the UPA pigeons. He is not going to be content with that. An unscrupulous politician that he is, Pawar is bent upon breaking the UPA, NDA and the latest edition of Third Front to realise his ambition. Whether he succeeds or not, he is going to make an effort to wean away Samajwadi Party from UPA, Shiv Sena from the NDA and whatever possible from the Third Front.
It is difficult to say whether Pawar’s party would be able to get atleast 20 Lok Sabha seats in the coming polls on its own, but never mind, it doesn’t stop his ambitions to the top post in the country. Everyone is entitled to his ambitions. But such ambition should be based on certain realities. A paraplegic cannot nurse an ambition to climb the Mount Everest. Well, one may say politics is all about immense possibilities. May be. Then, it cannot be divorced from ground realities and should not defy conventional wisdom, Costitutional dictum and political ethics. And sadly, Pawar wants to play the most dangerous parochial card. He says that the people of his state want a Maharashtrian Prime Minister. Is this not most abominable divisive politics? Why do we blame others of such a sin? Did he conduct his own survey to know the pulse of Maharashstrians? Look at the irony. His party calls itself as “nationalist” and he plays the worst possible regional card.
Let us look at the basics first. How do we elect a Prime Minister? We have a Parliamentary democracy and not Presidential democracy. A party that enjoys a majority in the House is entitled to elect its Prime Minister and such a candidate should enjoy the confidence of the MPs of his/her party. No one looks at his caste, religion or linguistic background. What is important is whether such a leader is capable enough to do justice to his post, never mind whichever state he hails from.
Pawar is trying to set a dangerous precedent by linking the post of chief executive of the country to his linguistic/regional background. If we extend this logic, why should we deny this privilege to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal etc. Does this not open the flood gates for people of those states to make a similar demand? Will it not amount to a mockery of our Constitution? As it is, the regional parties are slowly making the national parties irrelevant which, certainly is not in the interest of the nation. Pawar is adding another dirty dimension to the country’s political ethos.
Whoever knows Pawar’s style of politics would vouch for his strange, mysterious and inscrutable political conduct. He can sup with the devil if it can serve his political purpose. If he is now playing the Marathi manoos card, one does not know whether it is just a ploy to wean away Shiv Sena from the BJP atleast after the polls. Shiv Sena, Pawar knows, is quite vulnerable and will become an easy prey for such parochial appeal. If it is not to upset the NDA alliance, he must have other political calculations to stitch up numbers.
Pawar has already declared his penchant for the Third Front and kept an option open in case he needs numbers. But how many from the Third Front will go with him is a moot question. He is going to be greatly disappointed if he counts on the Third Front to realise his ambitions. Besides the four Left parties, Third Front has TDP, TRS, JD(S) and an unknown party of Bhajan Lal and his son who may not get even a single seat. The major regional parties – BSP and AIADMK – are fence sitters till now. There are reports that Telengana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekara Rao might get out of the “Mahakutami” after the polls in case the NDA is able to pip the post since the latter has promised Telengana statehood within 100 days of coming to power. Interestingly, the Left is split in Kerala and the CPI-M’s big brother attitude has alienated the CPI and both the parties are likely to field candidates in all the 20 seats in Kerala. Revolutionary Socialist Party, one of the partners of the Front did not attend the meeting in Karnataka. So, within the Third Front, Left is in disarray and if the Left parties get 40 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha, they must thank Marx or Lenin.
Can Pawar depend on Mayawati? Certainly not. Mayawati, inspite of giving a miss to the launch function of the Front in Karnataka, has invited the Third Front members for a dinner on Sunday to find out whether they would declare her as the Front’s Prime Ministerial nominee. Probably, she wants this as a pre-condition to formally join the Third Front. All available indications are that the Front partners may oblige her as her party is likely to emerge as the single largest party after UPA and NDA. And for the Left, she will be a better bet as it will cut Amar Singh, a betrayer of the Left, to size. Further, the Left can take the credit for projecting a “Dalit beti” as the country’s first Prime Minister from the oppressed section of society. It will be a double whammy – a woman and a dalit! Most important of all, the Left can continue to exert influence at the Centre as it did for nearly four and a half years with the UPA and bark and bite whenever it likes.
This possible development is also likely to drive away the AIADMK supemo J Jayalalithaa, another aspirant for the top post, from the Front and we need not be surprised if she ties up with the NDA as UPA continues to harbour Karunanidhi despite his shrinking stock. Even her alliance with the Left in Tamil Nadu is an uneasy one and it may go bust anyday.
So, Pawar will be left with only Samajwadi Party which is the only party, so far, to have extended its support to the ambitions of NCP chief. But how many seats SP will have in its kitty to extend formidable support to Pawar? If UPA emerges stronger than what is was in 2004, a remote possibility of course, why should the SP desert the UPA and go behind Pawar? It makes no political sense.
Only two regional parties are left out in this exercise. They are the TDP and Biju Janata Dal. Both these parties are occupying anti-Congress space in their respective states and therefore, they cannot go with the UPA. They will have no alternative except to sail with the Third Front and strengthen the hands of Mayawati.
Where does this leave Pawar? In the lurch?
By S R Ramanujan
Maharashtra strongman and Nationalist Congress Party chief, Sharad Pawar, who sees Third Front as a force to reckon with, is all set to unleash the cat among the UPA pigeons. He is not going to be content with that. An unscrupulous politician that he is, Pawar is bent upon breaking the UPA, NDA and the latest edition of Third Front to realise his ambition. Whether he succeeds or not, he is going to make an effort to wean away Samajwadi Party from UPA, Shiv Sena from the NDA and whatever possible from the Third Front.
It is difficult to say whether Pawar’s party would be able to get atleast 20 Lok Sabha seats in the coming polls on its own, but never mind, it doesn’t stop his ambitions to the top post in the country. Everyone is entitled to his ambitions. But such ambition should be based on certain realities. A paraplegic cannot nurse an ambition to climb the Mount Everest. Well, one may say politics is all about immense possibilities. May be. Then, it cannot be divorced from ground realities and should not defy conventional wisdom, Costitutional dictum and political ethics. And sadly, Pawar wants to play the most dangerous parochial card. He says that the people of his state want a Maharashtrian Prime Minister. Is this not most abominable divisive politics? Why do we blame others of such a sin? Did he conduct his own survey to know the pulse of Maharashstrians? Look at the irony. His party calls itself as “nationalist” and he plays the worst possible regional card.
Let us look at the basics first. How do we elect a Prime Minister? We have a Parliamentary democracy and not Presidential democracy. A party that enjoys a majority in the House is entitled to elect its Prime Minister and such a candidate should enjoy the confidence of the MPs of his/her party. No one looks at his caste, religion or linguistic background. What is important is whether such a leader is capable enough to do justice to his post, never mind whichever state he hails from.
Pawar is trying to set a dangerous precedent by linking the post of chief executive of the country to his linguistic/regional background. If we extend this logic, why should we deny this privilege to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal etc. Does this not open the flood gates for people of those states to make a similar demand? Will it not amount to a mockery of our Constitution? As it is, the regional parties are slowly making the national parties irrelevant which, certainly is not in the interest of the nation. Pawar is adding another dirty dimension to the country’s political ethos.
Whoever knows Pawar’s style of politics would vouch for his strange, mysterious and inscrutable political conduct. He can sup with the devil if it can serve his political purpose. If he is now playing the Marathi manoos card, one does not know whether it is just a ploy to wean away Shiv Sena from the BJP atleast after the polls. Shiv Sena, Pawar knows, is quite vulnerable and will become an easy prey for such parochial appeal. If it is not to upset the NDA alliance, he must have other political calculations to stitch up numbers.
Pawar has already declared his penchant for the Third Front and kept an option open in case he needs numbers. But how many from the Third Front will go with him is a moot question. He is going to be greatly disappointed if he counts on the Third Front to realise his ambitions. Besides the four Left parties, Third Front has TDP, TRS, JD(S) and an unknown party of Bhajan Lal and his son who may not get even a single seat. The major regional parties – BSP and AIADMK – are fence sitters till now. There are reports that Telengana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekara Rao might get out of the “Mahakutami” after the polls in case the NDA is able to pip the post since the latter has promised Telengana statehood within 100 days of coming to power. Interestingly, the Left is split in Kerala and the CPI-M’s big brother attitude has alienated the CPI and both the parties are likely to field candidates in all the 20 seats in Kerala. Revolutionary Socialist Party, one of the partners of the Front did not attend the meeting in Karnataka. So, within the Third Front, Left is in disarray and if the Left parties get 40 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha, they must thank Marx or Lenin.
Can Pawar depend on Mayawati? Certainly not. Mayawati, inspite of giving a miss to the launch function of the Front in Karnataka, has invited the Third Front members for a dinner on Sunday to find out whether they would declare her as the Front’s Prime Ministerial nominee. Probably, she wants this as a pre-condition to formally join the Third Front. All available indications are that the Front partners may oblige her as her party is likely to emerge as the single largest party after UPA and NDA. And for the Left, she will be a better bet as it will cut Amar Singh, a betrayer of the Left, to size. Further, the Left can take the credit for projecting a “Dalit beti” as the country’s first Prime Minister from the oppressed section of society. It will be a double whammy – a woman and a dalit! Most important of all, the Left can continue to exert influence at the Centre as it did for nearly four and a half years with the UPA and bark and bite whenever it likes.
This possible development is also likely to drive away the AIADMK supemo J Jayalalithaa, another aspirant for the top post, from the Front and we need not be surprised if she ties up with the NDA as UPA continues to harbour Karunanidhi despite his shrinking stock. Even her alliance with the Left in Tamil Nadu is an uneasy one and it may go bust anyday.
So, Pawar will be left with only Samajwadi Party which is the only party, so far, to have extended its support to the ambitions of NCP chief. But how many seats SP will have in its kitty to extend formidable support to Pawar? If UPA emerges stronger than what is was in 2004, a remote possibility of course, why should the SP desert the UPA and go behind Pawar? It makes no political sense.
Only two regional parties are left out in this exercise. They are the TDP and Biju Janata Dal. Both these parties are occupying anti-Congress space in their respective states and therefore, they cannot go with the UPA. They will have no alternative except to sail with the Third Front and strengthen the hands of Mayawati.
Where does this leave Pawar? In the lurch?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
POLL EVE SOPS ARE DEFERRED BRIBE
POLL EVE SOPS ARE DEFERRED BRIBE
By S R Ramanujan
Veerendra Sehwag may be the fastest cricketer today in India, especially in one-day internationals, by scoring a ton in record time. But he will turn out to be a pigmy if he were to compete with our politicians in terms of speed with which the latter are offering sops to the electorate and the speed with which they are changing their colours. If we compute the sops offered by various political parties, and in case, just in case, they come together to form a coalition, God forbid, the voter can simply sit at home and need not lift his little finger for a comfortable living.
He will have land to till, a house to live, free power, water, school/college fees of children taken care of by the state, free rice, free clothes, free medical aid in corporate hospitals, bank deposits in case he begets a female child, a colour television set with cable connection for full time enjoyment as he doesn’t have to do any work, and as a bonus cash transfer by the state in his bank account for the rainy day. After all these, you can even continue to borrow left right and centre since it will be waived off before the next elections.
How will we generate wealth for such a massive distribution of wealth is not the question to be asked, since you will then be branded anti-poor! Nor are we going to get an answer for such “silly” questions at the election time! What happens to GDP growth? Well, it is for the economic pundits to break their heads!
Telugu Desam Party chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu takes the cake in terms of volume of sops offered to the electorate though one does not know whether he or his “Mahakutami” will have a proportionate piece of the vote cake when the boxes open on May 15. However, what is common to all the rice-eating states and by all the parties is the offer of rice at Rs 2 a kg, while the market price is Rs 30 a kg. Vote bank populism zindabad!
Of course, there is no novelty in this scheme as this was originally conceived by the late C N Annadurai in 1967 itself when he promised three measures (a measure is little more than a kg) for one rupee. When he came to power he reduced it to one measure. NT Rama Rao, though an upholder of Telugu pride, had lots of Tamil influence by virtue of his long stay in Chennai and when he founded his TDP, he announced a kg of rice for Rs 2/- and it paid him handsome dividends at the hustings. Frankly, it was a boon for the BPL families and people still remember him with gratitude for this welfare measure. Soon, it became a norm for every political party to announce subsidised rice in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal and of course, Tamil Nadu.
However, what Chandrababu, who was once a staunch opponent of subsidies, has announced for the 2009 elections is mind boggling. The entire revenue budget of the state may not be sufficient to implement his promises. Well, he justifies the shifting stance with a philosophical note – everything on this planet has the tendency to change and change is a sign of progress. But the question that begs for an answer is why this change comes about only at the election time.
One can understand subsidised rice for the BPL families or the food-for-work programme. But is colour TV a basic need of the poor? Chandrababu thinks so. And he wants it even for the middle class! Why not? Should it be the privilege of only the rich? Forget about the middle class, even in urban slums, people have a colour television set and a mobile. Like his father-in-law, he borrowed this idea from the DMK chief minister of Tamil Nadu who promised and implemented partially the colour TV scheme. His promise of colour TV is believed to have worked for him to garner more votes. However, the fact remains that the beneficiaries had either sold the sets or kept them as an additional set at home. Why only colour TV? Should they not have a fridge or an air-conditioner to cool themselves in summer? Naidu and other politicians make it a point to have an annual break to visit Singapore or Malaysia or Europe. Why should it be the status symbol of the rich and the influential? Poorer sections should also have annual holiday at state expense! Why not free tickets to movies in multiplexes for the poor and the middle class?
It is futile to talk about economics with politicians as it does not pierce their thick hide. For example Babu’s pet scheme of “Cash Transfer Scheme”(CTS) may cost the exchequer an annual outlay of more than 40,000 crores of rupees while the state revenue is 70,000 crores. Even this CTS is not Babu’s original thought. Some of his advisers must have told him that such a scheme exists in Latin American and African countries. But, they may not have told him that what is in vogue in those countries is “Conditional Cash Transfer” (CCT) scheme. It was introduced in Mexico in 2002 and in Brazil in 2003. This is known as “Conditional Cash Transfer” because, the cash doles are in exchange for the beneficiaries fulfilling certain conditions like ensuring their children maintain a given level of school attendance, health clinics, immunization programmes, abolition of child labour, breast-feeding etc. This redistribution of wealth is, in the long run, to build up human capital among the poor through improved education, health, nutrition etc.
Has the TDP thought of any such conditionalities? After all, attitude to poverty is culture specific. Well, can we say that the socio-economic conditions are the same in India and the Latin American countries? We have successfully implemented mid-day meal scheme as a great incentive for the poor to send their wards to schools. There is free education upto degree irrespective of caste or religion. May be, inspite of this, we have school drop-outs. Atleast, the CTS should be linked to school attendance.
What is amusing is this. The Election Commission wants the calendars to be covered up wherever it shows the chief minister or Prime Minister. It wants Rajiv Gandhi’s pic to be pasted up in the EMRI ambulances, promotional paintings of welfare schemes to be erased, etc. There can’t be buntings, posters, hoardings and the like. These are not going to influence the voter either way. But what would matter are the sops that are announced just before and well after the announcement of election dates. If Mulayam gives cash in a Holi Milan during the poll campaign, or an MP minister gives away watches, they become corrupt practices; but if Babu promises cash after polls in the name of CTS, it is not a corrupt practice. Is CTS not a deferred bribe for votes, or for that matter a colour TV? What is the difference between a watch during the campaign and colour TV after the polls? Surely, the EC has to take a serious look into the sop opera of the parties. Manifestos can only talk about broad policy framework of the parties and not micro level sops which on one hand do not make any economic sense and the other influence the voter. Certainly, there will be no level playing field which the EC wants to ensure for free and fair polls.
By S R Ramanujan
Veerendra Sehwag may be the fastest cricketer today in India, especially in one-day internationals, by scoring a ton in record time. But he will turn out to be a pigmy if he were to compete with our politicians in terms of speed with which the latter are offering sops to the electorate and the speed with which they are changing their colours. If we compute the sops offered by various political parties, and in case, just in case, they come together to form a coalition, God forbid, the voter can simply sit at home and need not lift his little finger for a comfortable living.
He will have land to till, a house to live, free power, water, school/college fees of children taken care of by the state, free rice, free clothes, free medical aid in corporate hospitals, bank deposits in case he begets a female child, a colour television set with cable connection for full time enjoyment as he doesn’t have to do any work, and as a bonus cash transfer by the state in his bank account for the rainy day. After all these, you can even continue to borrow left right and centre since it will be waived off before the next elections.
How will we generate wealth for such a massive distribution of wealth is not the question to be asked, since you will then be branded anti-poor! Nor are we going to get an answer for such “silly” questions at the election time! What happens to GDP growth? Well, it is for the economic pundits to break their heads!
Telugu Desam Party chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu takes the cake in terms of volume of sops offered to the electorate though one does not know whether he or his “Mahakutami” will have a proportionate piece of the vote cake when the boxes open on May 15. However, what is common to all the rice-eating states and by all the parties is the offer of rice at Rs 2 a kg, while the market price is Rs 30 a kg. Vote bank populism zindabad!
Of course, there is no novelty in this scheme as this was originally conceived by the late C N Annadurai in 1967 itself when he promised three measures (a measure is little more than a kg) for one rupee. When he came to power he reduced it to one measure. NT Rama Rao, though an upholder of Telugu pride, had lots of Tamil influence by virtue of his long stay in Chennai and when he founded his TDP, he announced a kg of rice for Rs 2/- and it paid him handsome dividends at the hustings. Frankly, it was a boon for the BPL families and people still remember him with gratitude for this welfare measure. Soon, it became a norm for every political party to announce subsidised rice in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal and of course, Tamil Nadu.
However, what Chandrababu, who was once a staunch opponent of subsidies, has announced for the 2009 elections is mind boggling. The entire revenue budget of the state may not be sufficient to implement his promises. Well, he justifies the shifting stance with a philosophical note – everything on this planet has the tendency to change and change is a sign of progress. But the question that begs for an answer is why this change comes about only at the election time.
One can understand subsidised rice for the BPL families or the food-for-work programme. But is colour TV a basic need of the poor? Chandrababu thinks so. And he wants it even for the middle class! Why not? Should it be the privilege of only the rich? Forget about the middle class, even in urban slums, people have a colour television set and a mobile. Like his father-in-law, he borrowed this idea from the DMK chief minister of Tamil Nadu who promised and implemented partially the colour TV scheme. His promise of colour TV is believed to have worked for him to garner more votes. However, the fact remains that the beneficiaries had either sold the sets or kept them as an additional set at home. Why only colour TV? Should they not have a fridge or an air-conditioner to cool themselves in summer? Naidu and other politicians make it a point to have an annual break to visit Singapore or Malaysia or Europe. Why should it be the status symbol of the rich and the influential? Poorer sections should also have annual holiday at state expense! Why not free tickets to movies in multiplexes for the poor and the middle class?
It is futile to talk about economics with politicians as it does not pierce their thick hide. For example Babu’s pet scheme of “Cash Transfer Scheme”(CTS) may cost the exchequer an annual outlay of more than 40,000 crores of rupees while the state revenue is 70,000 crores. Even this CTS is not Babu’s original thought. Some of his advisers must have told him that such a scheme exists in Latin American and African countries. But, they may not have told him that what is in vogue in those countries is “Conditional Cash Transfer” (CCT) scheme. It was introduced in Mexico in 2002 and in Brazil in 2003. This is known as “Conditional Cash Transfer” because, the cash doles are in exchange for the beneficiaries fulfilling certain conditions like ensuring their children maintain a given level of school attendance, health clinics, immunization programmes, abolition of child labour, breast-feeding etc. This redistribution of wealth is, in the long run, to build up human capital among the poor through improved education, health, nutrition etc.
Has the TDP thought of any such conditionalities? After all, attitude to poverty is culture specific. Well, can we say that the socio-economic conditions are the same in India and the Latin American countries? We have successfully implemented mid-day meal scheme as a great incentive for the poor to send their wards to schools. There is free education upto degree irrespective of caste or religion. May be, inspite of this, we have school drop-outs. Atleast, the CTS should be linked to school attendance.
What is amusing is this. The Election Commission wants the calendars to be covered up wherever it shows the chief minister or Prime Minister. It wants Rajiv Gandhi’s pic to be pasted up in the EMRI ambulances, promotional paintings of welfare schemes to be erased, etc. There can’t be buntings, posters, hoardings and the like. These are not going to influence the voter either way. But what would matter are the sops that are announced just before and well after the announcement of election dates. If Mulayam gives cash in a Holi Milan during the poll campaign, or an MP minister gives away watches, they become corrupt practices; but if Babu promises cash after polls in the name of CTS, it is not a corrupt practice. Is CTS not a deferred bribe for votes, or for that matter a colour TV? What is the difference between a watch during the campaign and colour TV after the polls? Surely, the EC has to take a serious look into the sop opera of the parties. Manifestos can only talk about broad policy framework of the parties and not micro level sops which on one hand do not make any economic sense and the other influence the voter. Certainly, there will be no level playing field which the EC wants to ensure for free and fair polls.
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