Badal''s Punjab package

During his first official visit to Amritsar on Thursday Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal made a series of announcements which reflect his desire to be seen as a man of action. This was necessary because the popular perception is that political parties make promises which they conveniently forget once the elections are over. Some of the decisions he made public are part of the election manifesto and deserve close scrutiny because of their likely impact on the economy of the state.

The decisions to allow prisoners in Punjab a remission of one year of their sentence and the release of all those who have attained the age of 70 years should be widely welcomed. The across the board increase of Rs 2 in the daily wages of skilled and semi-skilled prisoners is a small but positive gesture. It remains to be seen whether the jail authorities would implement the order to clear all pending payments promptly.

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The Chief Minister would earn some more plus points as soon as the scheme to provide free education to the children of those serving life terms, as also of the victims, is implemented. His detractors would argue that the scheme to provide free education to the children of those serving life terms in irrational. It would encourage people to commit heinous crimes so that their children can receive education at state expense. There was nothing new in the public proclamation of his government's resolve to launch a relentless campaign against corruption in high places. Which political party says that it would condone corruption at whatever level?

The announcement that the government would institute a Maharaja Ranjit Singh honesty award of Rs 50,000 needs to be clarified. Will the cash incentive be given to all the officers who are perceived to be honest or to one "most honest officer of the year"? What would be the parameters for evaluating the integrity level of each officer? The officers whose names do not figure in the "honesty list" would be presumed to be corrupt. Logically the corrupt officers should be punished. Or does the Chief Minister intend to reward the honest officers without punishing the corrupt ones?

A common point in the election manifestos of the Akali Dal and the Congress was the promise of free water and power to the farmers of Punjab. Since the Congress has been routed in Punjab, the credit for implementing this poll promise would go to the new government. A few clarifications regarding the implementation of this policy too would be in order. The issue needs to be discussed in a wider national perspective. It is all very well to talk about the welfare of the farmers. But at what cost? Thanks to the policy of liberalisation the country has reached a stage where the rich can afford to pay any amount for the pleasures which money can buy and the poor have been pushed beyond the pain of impoverished existence. It is the burgeoning urban middle class which is caught in a situation over which it has no control. A middle class individual is today seething with impotent rage because he does not belong to any pampered lobby.

He has begun to question the caste-based policy of reservation by quoting the example of the family of Jagjivan Ram. He wants to know why the agricultural sector gets so many concessions without having to pay taxes. The proliferation of the farm house culture for the benefit of the rich and the famous of the land has assumed the dimensions of a national scandal. It has become, perhaps, the single largest source of money-laundering. Coming back to the policy of giving free power and water to the farmers, a question which is commonly asked is: Will the benefits extend to the big landowners and the "farm house" lobby? What will be the mechanism to ensure that the concessions are availed of by only the small and marginal farmers? These are some of the questions being asked by the urban middle class and by those who are made to pay for the "free lunches" the governments have begun to offer to an ever-increasing category of people. It is not that the leaders do not know the difference between populism and popular measures. They deliberately confuse political interest with national interest.