Sticking to his stand that populist schemes were not the reflection of good governance, veteran writer, Kum. Veerabhadrappa has said that more such schemes are creating financial burden on the State exchequers.
Quoting a Chinese phrase, he said on Wednesday that free schemes do not provide a lasting solution to poverty.
“In my view, excessive obsession of free scheme would only end up creating a neo-colonial poverty as the Government will spend a major share of its resources for sustaining these schemes”, he said.
The writer pointed out that according to an estimate, a debt of Rs. 30,000 looms over each resident in Karnataka because of the amount of borrowing by the State to sustain such populist schemes.
Mentioning one more ‘danger’ of these populist schemes, Mr. Veerabhadrappa said that it has become inevitable for the successive Governments to continue the previous scheme as it becomes a political compulsion.
“Not just that, in the competition of showing themselves as more ‘pro-people’, successive Governments will introduce more populist schemes, and it becomes a never ending process”, he said.
He said that such a trend exists across the country and not just States but even the Union Government is not spared.
Admitting that it was indeed the obligation of the Governments to provide food and healthcare to poor, he asserted that free schemes should not become a tool to win votes as it would not help in revenue generation.
“At the same time, the Government should refrain from introducing any more of such schemes”, he said.
