There used to be a NITI Aayog in India. There used to be press conferences to announce policies. Policy was made in parliamentary committees based on ideas and feedback from experts and the public. There used to be debates in the cabinet and parliament. But now laws are made, rules are made but not policies. That is, the leader thinks of the idea of getting votes and gives orders to the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and officers. And it becomes law. This pattern is representative of bulldozer rule. That’s why it was not surprising to learn this week that the Uttar Pradesh government is bringing a law to stop alleged acts like ‘spitting’ in food items. There is a possible provision of punishment of three to five years in jail and a fine of up to one lakh rupees.
For this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a high level meeting of officials on October 15. Two ordinances are being prepared. Their names will be ‘Prevention of Disguise and Anti-Goodwill Activities and Prohibition of Spitting Ordinance 2024’ and ‘Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Contamination in Food (Consumer Right to Know) Ordinance 2024’. The government realized its need through videos on social media. The government has taken serious note of these real-fake videos of a shopkeeper or cook allegedly spitting in food items like juice, dal, roti, mixing urine in flour, a minor boy spitting on rotis, spitting in fruit juice. Agreed. And create new laws for diagnosis!
Think, how is governance, society and politics in India today? There was a World Bank report this week. According to that, more than 43 crore people in India are in the state of extreme poverty in the extreme poverty scale with a spending power of $6.85 per day. These figures of Hunger Index and such reports related to human and social development come every year. But in India, policies are not made keeping them in mind. But yes, there are laws made in the nonsense of social media. And the entire politics, elections and manifestos are all just promises. Just before elections were announced in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Mumbai’s toll booths became free. ‘Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’ started. Immediately, cash transfer of Rs 1.5 thousand every month started to 1 crore 90 lakh women.
On the other hand, in Jharkhand, JMM government started transferring thousand rupees to every woman under ‘Maiya Samman Yojana’, while BJP promised to give Rs 2100 every month to every woman under ‘Gogo Didi Yojana’. Immediately a cabinet meeting of Jharkhand government was held and the amount of Rs 2.5 thousand was announced. Somewhere there is ‘Griha Lakshmi Yojana’ and somewhere ‘Ladli Brahm Yojana’ or ‘Mahtari Vandan Yojana’. There are elections in Delhi after four months, so the AAP government is also going to start giving thousand rupees per month to women. Kejriwal has said that he is giving six free Revadis and will also give the seventh one.
Obviously the governments are picking people’s pockets through direct and indirect taxes and are giving rupees eighty-four rupees in return. Not a single public welfare policy is being made in the areas of poverty, unemployment, medical care, education and indeed overall welfare of the people. If the government has strong faith in the well-being of the people through the Revadis, then why should not all the Revadis be combined and make a policy of a solid social security scheme for all the citizens? Why not make a policy of giving allowance of Rs 10,000 to every family or needy (unemployed, poor) every month? The fraud of small-time politics should end. Why should toll tax continue to be imposed on metropolitan limits or old highways? Why is medicine not free like in Britain? Recently there was news in Medical that hospitals are now selling hospital beds. That means the one who pays more will get the bed first. Like it has to be paid in plane or train travel. As the number of passengers increases, tickets become expensive. Many hospitals are now adopting this method. Have governments made even a single policy to stop looting in the treatment of sick people?