Days after the ruling DMK promised either a mixie or a grinder to women, the AIADMK on Thursday promised a fan, a mixie and a grinder as freebies to all women in the State in its election manifesto.
“It is not ‘either/ or'; a beneficiary will get all the three,” AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa clarified after releasing her party's manifesto here on Thursday. Four grams of gold, in addition to Rs. 25,000 as marriage assistance (Rs. 50,000 and four grams of gold for beneficiaries holding a diploma or degree), six months of maternity leave along with Rs.12,000 assistance and bank loan to a maximum of Rs.10 lakh linked with 25 per cent subsidy component for self-help groups figure in the schemes pertaining to women.
Ms. Jayalalithaa unveiled a ‘Green Houses' scheme under which houses powered by solar energy would be given to families below the poverty line. For the landless poor, three cents of land will be provided free for construction of houses. A school student will receive four sets of uniform and a pair of shoes free of cost. To prevent dropouts, students at the higher secondary level will be provided with scholarships ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 5,000. All students in arts and science colleges, engineering colleges and polytechnics will be provided with laptops free of cost, she promised.
Announcing the introduction of hospitals on wheels in rural areas, Ms. Jayalalithaa said 1,500 villages will be provided with 24-hour telemedicine centres.
By 2013, 5,000 MW of additional power will be generated and all households in rural and urban areas will get three-phase connection.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said her regime will provide 20 kg rice free of cost to all family cardholders and 20 litres of purified drinking water a month to all BPL families.
Keywords: AIADMK, Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Assembly polls
Just before writing this comment, I read up the statistics of Tamil Nadu on wikipedia. Stellar statistics compared to national averages on so many fronts - the most industrialized state, excellent strides made in agriculture, education, urbanization, police force, FDI, etc. But what have we come to now! This is a depressing state of affairs. These two parties are hell bent on breaking the backs of one of the most industrious people of our country. DMK has consistently set new lows for the state way back from the late '60s and left no choice for others but to follow suit.Seriously, what is the Election Commission doing? Isn't this a blatant case of government bribing the people?! Can't someone file a PIL stopping this nonsense? I'm equally appalled at the irresponsibility of media. Why don't you offer your opinions? If I assume there are approx 14 million households in TN, a back of the napkin calculation tells me that grinder, fans and mixers alone will cost more than $0.5 billion, not counting the distribution costs (assuming Rs.500 for grinders and mixers and Rs.300 for fans). Now Hindu, can you tell me how much does it cost to do proper waste management in the Mariana beach, or in the hundreds of other residential areas that are looking like dump yards? How much does it cost to build a 10km stretch of road, or provide rural electricity? In this day and age of instant connectivity and social networks, we don't need media to report facts. We want you to offer intelligent and inspiring opinions and bring upon pressure on those governing and hold them accountable.
I am ashamed to call myself a Tamilian, inspite of Tamilians being intelligent, hardworking, enterprising and blessed with a great culture and civilization. Neither the leaders make you proud nor the people who vote for freebies, make you proud. It is claimed by a very central minister that Kalaignar is like a parent who takes care of their children, their needs from food, education, health till their marriage. But this honble(?) minister forgets that no parent does it with public money. They do it with their own hard earned money. I hope atleast the voters understand this. This election is going to prove whether any "self respect" is still left out among the Tamil Nadu population or they are going to be carried away by 'freebies' doled out at the cost of public exchequer and development projects. I do not foresee any future for this state, if they vote the same politicians to power. Someone rightly said, 'you get the Government you deserve.'
So, get ready real estate mongers in Trichy/Srirangam for a windfall!
Tamilnadu is being made a 'beggar' and 'lazier' State by these so called Dravidian parties.
Freebies to Poor is not a major problem. We have a central government working for foreign money(bribe). They are wasting crores and crores of money to foreign company projects and sometimes selling our national security. Eg - Nuke deal.
Since ditribution of colour tv could not be prevented by law every other political party considers promising of freebies can alone bring them to power.It is high time something to be done to stem the rot.Otherwise all the revenue will be drowned for non productive expenditure for the sake of power by the political parties. See how Didi(Mamtaji)'s manifesto.
I agree, tax payer's money shouldn't be doled out through freebies, but this is an election and people always align with short term benefits. So to win their support, tangible items like these become a necessity. Remember, what happened to AIADMK during the last elections when they didn't give away such gifts. Besides, not many but few would have actually misused previous election's freebies and in a way it does help in circulation of economic resources !
If uplifting the members of BPL is the agenda then the focus should be on providing opportunities for them not Freebies.
The parties are not letting themselves to be judged on merit. If caste based identification of parties is wrong, then how fair is it to lure voters by promising freebees? If this is the case in one of the well developed states of India, it raises a question whether democracy has truly evlolved in the country even after 60 years.
This is a sad state of affairs happening in Tamil Nadu. Both the main parties are behaving irresponsibly for the want of power. Rather than developing the state by concentrating more on the middle class, they are flooding the poor with freebies which prevents them from working hard and also creates a bad culture where people expect freebies every time hereafter. Tamil Nadu electorate should draw lessons from Gujarat and Bihar.
hmmm... so now my well-heeled neighbours will add a grinder and mixer to the free TV..
TamilNadu is headed for doom if either DMK or ADMK get elected. Can we please have a 3rd front? What makes them think that they are entitled to give away tax payers money like this? Both parties are making a big joke out of the elections. Both parties should be banned.
Instead of developing the state, the hard earned money by the public and paid as taxes, the populist political leaders are coming out with freebies to the so called BPL members. I know how many people received the free TVs and cycles and how they were sold to others in the neighbouring states. Freebies create sloth, it can never free the society of poverty,diligence alone does.If that is the case US government would have given doles to all the poor people living there!
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