The devastating years of the recession years began from 1937-38 under the Roosevelt era . The Social Security Act was drafted by President Roosevelt's committee on economic security, the act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. By passing this act, President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate the protection of the elderly. The act aside addressing several factors of old age , retrials , health care etc also took into account reaching out to the unemployed with assistance from the government.
At many countries the ability of the government to take care of the citizens in their hour of need and create humane conditions where basic necessities of people are taken care of have become the gold standard that developing and third world countries aspire for in todays times. Tax paying people in the third world countries yearn for a layer of protection, insurance , providence etc when they face dire situations like the impending deep recession looming large and yet to hit with impact in countries like India.
While Roosevelt 's government made provisions and created the social security act by well thought of public policy , India seems to be heading towards providing social security to a certain sections of the vast billions of people in a peculiar manner.
Even if i were to word this phase of the blog as a satire there is an icing on the cake as the poor often times are exploited are at the receiving end of the goodies during the great general elections.
Free soaps like the record load waiver dished out by the ruling UPA or prevention of increment in petrol and LPG ( In Andhra ) prices giving the much needed cover to the common man against steep inflationary pressure is a respite indeed. At least to some. And these are always welcome.
Be it color TV's or 2 rupees rice schemes or loan waivers or free power or free laptops (as promised by the ever in waiting PM ) people have come to benefit greatly and surprisingly some of the prepoll promises have been kept and delivered by the elected representatives.
What Chandrababu Naidu has done by announcing a cash transfer pre poll soap is some thing unprecedented!!! It might defy logic as to how the exchequer will bear the expense but if looked at differently i see a glimmer of hope for the poor who brace them selves every 5 years at the great carnival of general election. If their stars are shining bright then when an government comes down crumbling mid term the goodies come their way earlier than the 5 year wait.
Imagine , Down South of India you cannot afford to put up a poll plank with out the de facto goodies which have become the benchmark manifesto of sorts. If the party i s not offering free power , two rupees rice , loan waivers , COLOR TV's then the party isn't a serious political force. As to daru or local liquor those have been flowing freely at elections since the last 60 years.
Therefore imagine when the political parties are forced to follow Chandrababu Naidus prepoll soap like the 2000 rupees he is promising as cash transfer to women in the family below the poverty line, It is akin to delivering social security in reverse order. Knowing Naidu he is sure to pull of this trick with a commendable degree of aplomb and accuracy of execution. Delivering cash to the poor directly in there ATM at the neighborhood.
At least the we can push the tyranny of the political goons to the back stage. Tyranny of caste , religion and the marathi manoos and ram sene brand of politics played by the present opportunists.
And the cash for votes is lot better than the cash for votes witnessed in lok shabha last year during the debate in nuclear deal times or what happens when several horses are traded to amass numbers to prove majority at the floor of the house.
Be it cash or lap tops one thing is sure , Diebold , NCR , Wincor , Seimens , HP , IBM,Dell , Microsoft et al will get a lot of business , thanks to Advani and Chandrababu :-)
Let there be more elections in India and let there me more free beeies reaching the poor and needy..can we call this democratic innovation in reaching social security to the poor in India.
Until our politician aren't able to tell our citizens ask what they can give the country and not what the country can can give them or until they tell what the can give the nation and not what they get to loot when in the seat of power the poll rigmarole shall continue...jab that the end nahi hoga ......abhi picture baki hai mere dost !!!!
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