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Concern over ‘freebies’ in Indian politics has recently been expressed by those in the highest offices in the country. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Bundelkhand Expressway (Uttar Pradesh) on July 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned youth not to get carried away by the ‘revari culture’, where votes are sought by promising ‘freebies’. He hit out at the Opposition parties for offering freebies and said that this was dangerous and harmful to the development of the country.

Days later, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana, heard public interest litigation in which the petitioner argued against the promise of ‘irrational freebies’ by claiming that these distort the electoral process. It has been reported that during the hearing, the Chief Justice of India remarked that ‘freebies’ were a serious issue and asked the Central government to take a stand on the need to control the announcement of ‘freebies’ by political parties during election campaigns. The Court also suggested that the Finance Commission could be involved to look into the matter and propose solutions.

The discussion on the demerits of ‘freebies’ distributed to the public as a result of election promises is not new in India. However, there is often confusion on what constitutes ‘freebies’, with a number of services that the Government provides to meet its constitutional obligations towards citizens also being clubbed in this category. The basic argument is that these are a waste of resources and place a burden on already stressed fiscal resources. In such discussions, ‘freebies’ not only include the free distribution of what may be considered ‘club goods’ such as televisions and gold chains but also welfare schemes such as free or subsidized rations under the Public Distribution System (PDS), cooked meals under the mid-day meal scheme, supplementary nutrition through anganwadis, and work provided through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).