Ahead of the next parliamentary elections in the state, political parties in Punjab rely heavily on freebies and allowances to attract voters. While the Aam Aadmi party announced that it transfer Rs 1000 per month to every woman aged 18 or over, Shiromani Akali Dal also promised Rs 2,000 to every woman who holds the credit card.

If the AAP is elected to power, it will need 12,000 crore rupees per year to keep its poll promises. The annual GST collection in Punjab is Rs 1377.77 Cr. The total amount is not enough to provide Rs1000 to 99 lakh women per month, as well as to credit salaries, pensions and offer debt repayment.

Congress, in its 2017 election manifesto, promised a stipend of 2,500 rupees to every unemployed youth in addition to proving jobs to every household. The party had also promised a loan waiver for debt-ridden farmers.

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Punjab’s debt stood at Rs 1.25 lakh crore in 2015-16. When the Congressional government took power in 2017, the outstanding debt stood at Rs 1.82 lakh crore. The budget estimate for 2021-2022 predicts that the outstanding debt will amount to nearly Rs 2.82 lakh crore.

Giveaways are continually used as a tool to influence voters and ensure victory in elections.

According to Pramod Kumar, director of the Institute for Development and Communication in Chandigarh, “Gifts are not equivalent to the framework of social security. If you are to have social security then there is a very clearly defined systemic reform that you have to do. These parties do not even talk about these reforms.

Interestingly, political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party also required people to sign promissory notes.

According to Kumar, these promissory notes are signed to strengthen the party’s credibility.

“It is a very risky proposition for politics because if they keep doing it and they are unable to carry it out, it will reduce the credibility of politics which is a very sacred thing for democracy,” said the Dr Pramod Kumar.

He added that if the parties continue to do so, “it will fade people’s faith in democracy and autocracy in which autocracy can occur, which is a major danger.”

“The gifts in Punjab have become demonetized currency. Since everyone is doing this, people have understood that they might not get the promised returns. So these demonetized currencies might not play that role,” he said. he declares.

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