Can’t call schemes ‘freebies’, says DMK, seeks to join case in SC | India News
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NEW DELHI: The ruling DMK party of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday moved the SC seeking to be a party in the PIL questioning political parties announcing various freebies as election promises and said that every region has its own socio-economic issues and different welfare measures taken by various states could not be bracketed under the single phraseology “freebies”.
It said free electricity cannot be categorised as freebie when it is intended to help poor children study. “Schemes such as free electricity can have a multi-dimensional effect on a poor household. Electricity can provide lighting, heating and cooling resulting into a better standard of living. It can facilitate a child in his education and studies. A welfare scheme therefore, can have a wide reach and multiple intentions behind its introduction and the cascading effect arising from it cannot be defined in a restrictive meaning as a freebie,” it said.
It said free electricity cannot be categorised as freebie when it is intended to help poor children study. “Schemes such as free electricity can have a multi-dimensional effect on a poor household. Electricity can provide lighting, heating and cooling resulting into a better standard of living. It can facilitate a child in his education and studies. A welfare scheme therefore, can have a wide reach and multiple intentions behind its introduction and the cascading effect arising from it cannot be defined in a restrictive meaning as a freebie,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Association of Power Producers (APP), a body of major private power generators having 65% of installed power capacity also moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday and said mindless free electricity promises by parties would ring the death knell for the debt-ridden power sector and grievously impact financial institutions.
Requesting to become a party in the pending petition by Ashwini Upadhyay challenging distribution of freebies in which the SC has agreed to set up an expert panel to evolve a regulatory mechanism, the APP said, “In FY 2021, total debt of the sector stood at Rs 5,89,000 crore with an immediate debt obligation of Rs 1,06,000 crore, which poses a growing risk to Indian financial institutions.”
In its petition the DMK said, “The Centre gives tax holidays to foreign companies, waives off bad loans of influential industrialists, grants crucial contracts to favoured conglomerates etc. also have to be considered and cannot be left untouched.The SC cannot have a restrictive approach for classifying any scheme or act by the Union/State Legislature to be a ‘freebie’ without considering the magnitude of resultant consequences and social welfare at both micro and macro level.”
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