Benefits & Benevolence

A Win

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) together with the Give It Up campaign for the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) subsidy in India has been called a major game changer by leading economists and policy analysts in India. The most important and visible impact has been in terms of the savings to the State Exchequer, to the tune of several thousand million rupees. Most of it has been brought about by reduced pilferage of the subsidy money, on account of the benefit being transferred directly to the beneficiary.

Source: Give It Up portal

A good chunk to the savings has also been contributed by about 1 million LPG users giving up their subsidy as a response to the Give It Up call by the PM. As per data shared by the 3 largest LPG providers in India (Indane, HP Gas & Bharat Gas), every day several hundreds of affluent consumers are opting to let go their subsidies.

To give credit where due, the DBT underwent pilot implementation towards the fag end of former PM Manmohan Singh's 2nd tenure. The takeaway - for successful implementation the scheme is dependant on the availability and the linkability between the National Identification Number, Bank Account and computerized records, among others. Narendra Modi Government launched the revamped program targeted towards LPG subsidy in November 2014, after some preliminary work on the loopholes identified from the pilot roll-out earlier.

Sending the Right Message

I was visiting a family in my native village, along with my father, last December. This was around the same time when LPG distribution centres were asking people to fill out forms to update their bank account numbers for DBT. Like most other families in my village, this wasn't a very economically better off family. This came up in the course of our conversation, and the matriarch in the family was not happy with this additional 'hassle' that they are having to go through, something that they could do without. She also was thinking that the LPG price has actually increased, now that the family has to pay out more.

My father then explained that the government isn't increasing any LPG prices, but is simply transferring the subsidy amount to the bank account of the family. The distribution system would end up being more efficient, and the LPG quota per family and the subsidy will not be misused due to loopholes in the process.

I just thought, there will be several like the lady who hasn't really understood the revamped program - what it does for the people, or for the country; a problem of communication. May be it will grow on her over the years, with time. Made me also think about how many people really don't know that the LPG they are getting are highly subsidized by the State. This program will also end up creating awareness that the government is footing part of the LPG bill of every household in the country, at least those who have not given it up, yet.

The next steps

The obvious next step would be to extend this program to several of the other subsidy programs that the State runs. That would amount to another big win over corruption. But, in my opinion, the immediate need is for GOI to show to the people how these savings have been put to a better use. How is the money being routed towards fulfilling the objectives of the 'Give It Up' program? Or what other initiatives are being funded with these savings.

Source: The News Minute

Or how about our MPs letting go SOME of the unreasonable perks and subsidies that they enjoy at the taxpayers' expense. Or what about finally fulfilling the promise of One Rank One Pension, for the good folks in our Armed Forces? Unless proven otherwise, many in India are inclined to think that the savings generated thus is just funding the perks of our corrupt politicos, and 'down the drain' (to use a phrase someone used on my FB TL). Having seen the amount of money swindled away in corruption over the past few decades, I cannot really blame anyone for being skeptic. Some people would need to see more tangible outcomes before taking the plunge for programs like 'Give It Up'. People aren't worried much about money that the Government spends, as long as the spend has been judicious. Quite sure, several more would join in thus, for it also gives a feel-good factor, of having done something to contribute to the needy fellow citizens, and to the country.

These quick wins every now and then, are important for the optics - realities that will matter when the incumbent is up for re-election in another 4 years' time.

~Cheers, MT.

Vacuous Vanity

Rs. 780 crores spent by DAVP in 6 months till March 2015, says one of the news headlines today.

Source: Economic Times

The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the nodal agency of the Government of India, for advertising by various Ministries and organisations of Government of India, including public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies.

INR 780 crore or approximately USD 130 million, is by no means a small amount of money to be spent in publicity, over a duration of 6 months, even for a developed nation, let alone a developing country like India. Especially when there are no Central Government elections around for another 4 years.

During Manmohan Singh's decade long tenure, this was one of the issues for which the UPA government had been criticized by one and many, including yours truly.

Source: Times of India

Not that the UPA had too many achievements to show off; the bulk of the ad expenses were done to praise the INC stalwarts of yore, especially M.K. Gandhi and the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty. A birth anniversary, a death anniversary, a marriage anniversary and bang, out there on the front, back and almost every page of the nations leading dailies, you will have these 'praise the Lord', on-your-face ads. And of course, one ad would never suffice, for, every Government department had to fall head over heel to praise the Royals of the INC. This frittering away of the taxpayer rupees was of course not limited to these special days, but definitely took such nauseating proportions on these days. Besides the usual news reports, perhaps there are RTI queries out there on the interwebs, which inform about how much of the taxpayer money was spent by DAVP during the UPA decade on such frivolous publicity, or for appropriate publicity too. If not, I will look at ways to gather information on this. There are reams of material available on this criminal pilferage during the UPA decade. But then, that was past, and nothing much can be done about it, however strongly you may feel about it. UPA was booted out in 2014, so that's some solace.

Fast forward to May 2015, 11 months into the NDA Government's tenure, and we see the same of this being repeated. To what proportion, some RTI queries and a comparison can help lay the facts bare. The point being, why are such extravagant amounts still being spent for ads in mainstream media, when it was promised that things would change for better? For sure the Government's achievements has to be let known to the people. But, isn't there a more modest way to achieve that? 'मन की बात' on All India Radio (AIR) is one way to do it. Not only has the medium helped communicate to the widest possible audience, thanks to the wide reach and diverse audience of AIR, it has also been beneficial for the broadcaster, in terms of ad revenue which this program has brought in.

Source: Twitter TL of

@ARangarajan1972

But, every now and then, why do we still see such full page, multiple page ads in the nations leading (mostly English) dailies?

Anand Ranganathan (currently, contributing editor Newslaundry.com) was sharing his views on this shameful waste of taxpayer money, on his Twitter TL, and I was listening in. He mentions that a mere tweet can be 10 times as effective as such ads. I obviously had my doubts, given India's internet penetration (or the lack of it), and that Twitter, by some estimates is used by 22.2 million Social media users (17% of SM users, a mere 8.8% of Internet users; via The Hindu). I am of the opinion that instead of such extravagant spend on national English dailies, the Government can actually spend just a fraction of it in Regional Language dailies and ensure a much wider reach.

But, Anand pointed out, and I agreed, that a Tweet from the Prime Minister's Office will actually be lapped up by media, always way too eager for official sound bites.

And the way any news media works, print or audio-video, those 140 characters would trigger a cascading effect, and end up in the 24/7 news cycle.


Communication, no doubt, is an important aspect of governance - optics matter. And the current NDA government is way too aware of this, having been witness to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's defeat in 2004. In 2019, the electorate will judge the Modi Government not just on what the government had promised and delivered, but also, how much the change the government has brought in, compared to the pilferage of taxpayer money during the decade-long Manmohan Singh Government. I only hope these thoughts are being communicated to the powers that be in an effective manner. On my part, I think I will go ahead and use the MyGov.in portal to send across this message. Hopefully, with several people sending in the same views, the Government will pay better heed to the advise.

Message to the NDA Government - 'Be the change you wanted the UPA Government to be'.

~MT

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

In two recently declassified files it was revealed that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru used the Intelligence Bureau sleuths to spy on the family of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. This India Today article reasons that Nehru was worried about his political future in the event of Bose returning to India after his mysterious disappearance towards the end of Wold War II. Conspiracy theories abound about this disappearance of one of India's most famous freedom fighter, with some even saying that the (to be) ruling political disposition of India of that time may have had a role to play in it.

Bose with Brutus, Image Credit @HistoryInImages

Thoughts on my mind -

1. Government of India cites foreign relations as the reason why it'd not be able to make all the Netaji files public. I wonder often what worse can happen except negative opinion about a few countries like UK or Russia, who might have taken him as a PoW, post World War II. Or certain people like Gandhi and Nehru who may have been the ones handing over Bose to the Allies. W.r.t. countries, people can turn over a new leaf fairly quickly. Also geopolitics makes strange bedfellows. But the same may not be the case for persons, whom Indians, over the years, have been taught to revere, without questions through text written by some self serving 'eminent historians'. Not that the ruling party in India of today has anything to lose.

2. Speaking of losing, besides the foreign policy angle, the only other reason BJP may be reluctant to declassify the Netaji files would be because in case of any wrongdoing, it'd implicate Sardar Patel, the new found hero of the nationalist support base that the BJP has. Any such snooping or iniquity on the part of the government of that time would imply tacit approval of the then Home Minister Patel.

3. In case of any wrongdoing, a bigger loss would be for the Indian National Congress, and by extension, any other party outside NDA. So, here is what I am putting my money on - The BJP government will eventually release more of the files around the time of the 2016 Assembly elections in some of the states, more importantly in West Bengal. That would definitely yield good political dividends. These two new files may just have been the first salvo fired towards that end, an attempt perhaps, to gauge public sentiments.

A lot of credit is given to Gandhi-Nehru led independence movement, courtesy fables written by 'eminent historians'. Point to ponder - there were several countries that were decolonized during and after World War II; how many of those had Gandhi and the अहिंसा brigade? Freedom fighters like Netaji, and the Indian National Army are still fighting for their rightful place in history. "तुम मुझे खून दो, मैं तुम्हें आज़ादी दूंगा।" - said Netaji, inspiring thousands of Indians to take up arms against the powerful British Empire. Regardless of the motives behind declassifying the files, the People of India have a right to know what finally happened to this illustrious son of India.

More reading on Netaji files -

1. Explained: Everything you need to know about the Netaji files
2. Death of Subhas Chandra Bose

~~ MT