Monday, May 15, 2006

Being below poverty line in TamilNadu...

This is my first post and I thought of blogging about the recently concluded TamilNadu Assembly elections would be just the right beginning. As soon as I think about this election, immediately my attention goes to 'The Hero' (according to P Chidambaram) - the DMK election manifesto! Some of the important schemes annonced in 'The Hero' and how they would change the life of an ordinary person - here you go!

I have tried to connect only the relevant promises and not all of them.

(1) I will get rice for Rs.2/Kg – that too of good quality. So naturally I own a rationcard and I will not be a fool to buy rice from a good shop for about Rs.15 and above. So what will happen to that business & people doing that business? Who cares – my money saved!!

(2) Free color TV and if required free cable connection. Great. Let us all sell our old TVs so that they can be bought at cheap rates by government and re-circulated – why to go for china for this? What do I get? I get money from my old TV and Govt gets to fulfill its vision! And it is a vicious cycle. Money rotation!

(3) Free Gas Stove – Ok great. A stove without gas connection will not be useful. So I can sell and make some money out of it.

(4) Rs.15000/- per marriage – WoW! A dowri from government! Great way to eradicate this Dowri problem in India! And will I also be eligible for this when I marry more than once? If yes, this is a fantastic minority friendly scheme! All I need to say is 3 words after 3 months! And I am free to get the next 15K! If I am a Hindu, hard luck- I need to ‘work’ to get second, third time married! But given that the government expects me to do nothing else, I am sure to invest my time to this!

(5) And what after marriage – ofcourse getting pregnant! What else job do I have? For 6 months I will get 1000 Rs.! Step back – Did we expect the government to propagate about ‘one family – no/one child’ among the rural poor?? That is not what people want – you are wrong. So now the government will entertain and reward people for becoming pregnant! Great!!! Every year, for 6 months I can earn 1000 bucks for doing nothing (I mean only one thing).

(6) And for youth without job – Government will give upto Rs.300/Month. WoW! Rewarding for laziness! Great!! Anyway, I can be idle and do 4 & 5 full time. This is my favorite!

(7) And If I live at a rural place, as a youth I will get free computer training!

(8) Then here comes the Jackpot! I need to declare myself as a farmer without land. The government will give me 2 acres of land free!! Wow!

(9) Once I declare myself as a farmer, the first thing I can take is a loan from the cooperative society Bank! The government will anyway waive it! Great! Free money! No questions!!

(10) Once I become a farmer, I get free power! Great! Free Power for my house and for my motor and for my etc…Wow! And as second choice, I can also opt to declare myself as weaver to get this benefit (but then I will missout on 8 & 9 -- not so good)

(11) And if I fail to gain all these, the government has promised to fulfill 3laks jobs at the government offices immediately. How will they fulfill - go to 12.

(12) Beyond all this I have a central government which will ensure that I will qualify to some kind of reservation as long as I am not a Brahmin! So someway or the other I will get education (no need to study), medical seat (no need to score top marks), and if all goes well a good job at a good private institution (no merit required)!

Looking all these, I believe I am fortunate enough to be born and live inTamilnadu. Now sky is the limit for being idle! This is my pet government! I mean I love it!

These are the things that will drive India through the next 5 years. And these are the things for which we voted for! Now an open challenge to other states of India - Can you match us?

And some years back, I heard somebody blabbering about vision 2020! (Is that APJ Kalam?). Poor soul!! May his dreams be dreams and RIP.

God Save TamilNadu!

5 comments:

Rajesh J Advani said...

He he! Nice analysis.

And I get to be the first commenter!

Indian Voter said...

A Good post indeed. Thanks for linking me up. Is that you sir, who mails in the name of Ramakrishnan in Thuglak yahoogroups?

Madhu said...

Great analysis.But all the promises made by the DMK goverment in the 'The Hero' was for the poor and not for people who are educated(especially not for people like us who are educated enough to blog).
The rice given in the two rupees/Kg scheme is not for every one who owns a ration card but for people who are not able to buy rice for the market price.
About the free TV, i totally loathe that idea.I still wonder how would people have brought a goverment to power just because goverment told they all would recieve a free TV.The worst part is people who have plasma tv in thier home have also received free tv.These people are worse than the goverment.
The pregnant women receive money for keeping themselves healty.This is the step initated by the goverment to reduce the infant death rate.Lots of poor women don't have the money to buy fruits or medicine and they work in the farms or construction sites doing physical work during their pregnancy.Without proper nutrition the child would not be healthy.This money is for helping them to be healthy.
The money for unemployed youth is not for every unemployed youth in the state.Your parents should not be employed and you should be on the or below the poverty line to recieve this money.I don't think anyone can lead their life with a mere three hundred rupees.So this can't the be reason for anyone to remain unemployed.
I don't find anything wrong in giving computer training for rural people.
The free land is for people who don't have anything ie) who don't have any other work or land.And the two acres of land is to make people financially independent.
I don't support the loan waiver and free electricity schemes.
And regarding the three lakh jobs created by the goverment, it's their duty to create jobs so i don't think we can blame the goverment if they promised to create jobs.
One thing we people should do is not take advantage of the schemes which are meant for the poor.Let us do our jobs properly ie)paying our taxes properly, following the rules, etc. Maybe then the vision of our ex-president would become true if not in 2020 atleast within 2035!!

Prakash G said...

hehehe, then why India is still poor ?!?!?!. don't you know these are all not happening in reality ?!?! the same old MLAS and MPS only get benefitted from this - not the common man.

Unknown said...

I dont appreciate this post. The government of Tamilnadu has come up with some policies keeping the poor insight. What is the best policy for a government to function well is still not known to many countries? Do you think that the well developed states such as USA and many european states have no problems? At least such policies can help solving certain poverty driven issues in the society. There is no country in the world in which 100% of its population is working and being part of every social and economical change. These policies will not stop people who are striving for best in their life and these policies will not make anyone lazy. Criticism is good but it can not be due to aversion towards government. Lot of people like you are not worried about your mother country and you ran to another country for better life and you know very well that qualified indians are best taxi drivers in USA and UK. And these indians are not willing to work in the rural parts of India but they are willing to be Taxi drivers in New york. Now there is someone remaining in India in the government trying to do their best to alleviate starvation deaths and poverty and you are quick to criticize them.. Think about it again. Positive aspects are not to be forgotten. Anyways thanks for the analysis.