Criticism of government policies and Assam ruling waiver

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Until about ten years ago, a citizen had the right to openly criticize a decision, a project, a policy, etc. of the government through newspaper articles or could express his letters of dissatisfaction to the editor of the newspapers. A democratic environment prevailed and the government responded to these criticisms.

Unfortunately, this democratic tradition in India has faded in recent years, and the ruling classes and its huge subordinate media have established a new climate where the objections and opinions of the people are not respected. Although people always have the right to criticize the ruling system, the voices of the people often fail to catch the attention of the ruling classes.

The ruling dispensation has influenced society with so much talk that ordinary people are now confused and reluctant to pay attention to critics who analyze or criticize government policies. Common sayings like “Ministers and bureaucrats don’t care about arguments, comments, etc.” are rapidly gaining ground in society to highlight the extent of this ignorance.

By taking control of the media and using other devices like social media, the ruling dispensation has created such an atmosphere that they feel no need to pay attention to criticisms against government policies and programs, however impartial and beneficial as they are.

We are sure that the issues we would like to raise here never attract the attention of heads of state. Nevertheless, we want to raise certain questions as a necessary component of democratic processes that provide the freedom to ask any question about government.

Union Deputy Health Minister Bharti Pradhan Pawar made a statement to Parliament on December 10 based on a current study titled “National Multidimensional Poverty Index, by NITI Aayog. Citing this report, the minister said that the poor in Assam are not receiving 47.87% of the minimum requirements they should be receiving as citizens of this country.

Now the question is why the government, which has failed to provide basic necessities to the poor in the state, continues to launch extravagant projects that would cost thousands of crores of rupees. Why is the state creating millions of beneficiaries when it has to borrow thousands of crores of rupees every month just to cover the salaries and pensions of government employees? Whether the creation of such beneficiaries enables the poor of the state to experience all-encompassing development, or whether the number of such beneficiaries has been increased in order to produce worthless and idle citizens who will eventually become nothing more than voters totally dependent on the beneficiary-oriented government programs !

About six years ago, the then finance minister, Himanta Biswa Sharma, gave an evasive answer to these questions. When Dr. Sharma presented the budget for the financial year 201617 to the Assembly of Assam, he underlined his concern about the adverse effects of the ‘beneficiary’ system on a state’s economy.

He made the following statement in this regard: Out-of-plan spending has increased over time. Over the past few years, budgets have been filled with programs and plans aimed at individual beneficiaries. They did not stimulate growth. In many cases, the announced programs have not been implemented. If they were implemented, they were not finished. If it was completed, the funds could not be released because there were not enough resources. The net result of such a process has been that the state is weighed down with enormous committed responsibilities. More importantly, the dilemma is how to assume such huge liabilities without verifying the veracity of these liability claims and it takes time to establish the same. Thus, the sanctity of the budget has been diluted to a great extent.

On government plans and programs, he further said: First, there are many plans and programs that have been added year after year. In fact, the majority of them have been included, between the year, outside the Legislative Assembly, New Year’s Eve, Republic Day, Independence Day, etc. These schemes were primarily focused on individual benefits and do not stimulate growth, inspire equity, respond to development or contribute to employment. Now it’s time to review and consolidate. Instead, we should initiate the growth oriented schemes and programs and every rupee so invested should multiply many times in the system.

Finally, our main concern is how it is possible to have additional beneficiaries under the same leader who has declared that the proliferation of beneficiary programs and the introduction of numerous subsidies do not help to advance development, to ensure equity or to create jobs.

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