Economist Amit Mitra attacks Centre on culture of freebies

New Delhi: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's veiled attack on the culture of 'freebies' in which many political parties indulged, the Opposition parties were outraged, resulting in political crossover over the past couple of weeks. On Friday, leaving no stones unturned, the former finance minister of West Bengal and renowned Indian economist Amit Mitra made a scathing attack on PM Modi. He claimed that his statement is completely "baseless" and "absurd."

While talking to the Millennium Post, Mitra said, "All this is absolutely misplaced- it looks like the Prime Minister and his government are looking at themselves in a mirror in terms of freebies- the biggest 'freebies' given for political leverage."

The Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) also claimed that the Centre is doing it at a massive scale and so are the first world countries across the world.

Starting with the Modi-led NDA-government's policies, Mitra referred, "On January 1, 2022, the PM suddenly announced Rs. 6,000 each to 10 crore farmers as a new instalment of direct transfer under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi programme. A perfect case of a freebie!"

He further claimed that under the National Assistance Programme, which started in 1995, Rs 9,652 crore is still being shelled out by the government at the Centre and Rs 1.25 lakh crore is being given away by the Central government, which are also perfect examples of "freebies."

Besides, the veteran economist also referred to the policies of the first world countries- the USA, Australia, and other European countries. He said, "Freebie has led to the turning around of the US economy by stimulating demand, like during the Great Depression, and thereby, releasing the Keynesian multiplier."

"In the UK, 80 per cent of the last salary drawn is given in cash by the government of UK, called the furlough scheme. In Germany, there is a massive economic support scheme for cash transfers. In Australia, a single person of 22 years age or above is given cash dole of over $1200 a month," Mitra added.

At the same time, he warned the incumbent government at the Centre to regularise the economy through Direct Benefit Transfer schemes, which will create demand in the market.

Mitra, now the special advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, also referred to the popular schemes of the state and their success stories. He underlined, "In West Bengal, people have benefitted from schemes like Kanyashree, where 75 lakh girls have received Rs, 25000 each, digitally into their bank accounts, leading to significant fall in school dropout rates... Krishak Bandhu scheme has helped farmers at a very critical time... Swastha Sathi scheme provides free health care to all from the poor which the poor benefit the most... In the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme, women from needy families get up to Rs. 1,000 per month."

Inspite of such schemes, Mitra claimed that West Bengal's debt- GSDP ratio is only 34 per cent, the fiscal deficit is 3.43 per cent, while the Union government's is at 7 per cent. At the same time, the state's GSDP growth in 2021-22 was 12.82 per cent, whereas, India's growth was 9.18 per cent. Moreover, West Bengal's per capita income is 1.5 times higher than the national average.