In a rare case, the Deputy Chief Minister of a State himself has said that the government can't ensure development. This has happened for real and there is no parody here.
We are talking about the latest utterance by DK Shivakumar, the Deputy CM of Karnataka. CM Siddaramaiah's deputy on Wednesday made it clear that there are no funds for development activities in the irrigation and public works sectors, among others, for the current financial year.
Soon after the Congress party came to power in May, it announced five populist schemes. Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Shakti and Yuva Nidhi are the names of the schemes that have gobbled up Rs 40,000 Cr. As a result, the government is hard-pressed for money and is running revenue deficit. "This year, we can't provide development," Shivakumar said.
His words are proof that no government can ensure both freebies and development. Even a rich State like Karnataka will struggle if everything goes towards freebies. The less said about poor States, the better. The only government that has managed to sustain freebies is the Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal. The same AAP model is failing badly in Punjab.
