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The ravadis should be distributed

Nowadays the discussion on Rewari politics is postponed. The Prime Minister has not said anything about this for the last almost two months. The last hearing in the Supreme Court was also held on 26 August, in which there was talk of forming an expert committee. Don’t know what happened after that. Think, a few days ago it seemed that what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described as ‘Rewari culture’ is the biggest threat to the country’s politics and democracy and the sooner it is freed, the better it is for the country. But by the time the discussion on ‘Rewdi culture’ was on, the assembly elections of two states had come and the government took a brave bag and went out to distribute Revdi. So what was the discussion about it? So, it has been postponed for a while. It may be postponed permanently as there are going to be assembly elections in many states next year and Lok Sabha elections next year.

It is also possible that the expert committee of the Hon’ble Court may give a report and on that basis the difference between Revdi and Revdi may be pointed out. For example, giving five kg of free food grains should not be considered as Revdi and giving two hundred units of electricity should be considered as Revdi. The Samman Nidhi given by the Prime Minister to the farmers should not be considered as Revadi and the help given by the Telangana Government under the Rythu Bandhu scheme should be declared Revadi. Keep in mind that the central government has extended the scheme of giving five kilograms of food grains for three months. Now this scheme will run till 31st December. By then the elections for two states will be over. Along with the extension of this scheme for three months, it was also reported that the government has increased the dearness allowance of central employees by four percent. The central government also does not consider it as rewari, but do not know why the media people are not understanding this, which they put the heading that ‘Govt gift to central employees before Diwali’! Now that it is a gift, it is only Revdi, isn’t it? Along with this, the third news was that now MLAs and MLCs will get 30 thousand units of electricity free every year in Bihar. Distribute the revdi blind, then give it to yourself again!

So, governments have been distributing such ravadis for years. But till now these rewaris were available to central and state government employees. MLAs, MPs, Ministers used to meet. Big corporates used to get tax exemptions or loan waivers. All this is still going on but there is no discussion on it. In the monsoon session of Parliament this year, the Government of India informed that in the last five financial years, a loan of about Rs 10 lakh crore has been written off. That is, every year on an average, two lakh crore rupees of debt is going into write-off i.e. sinking. Out of those businessmen whose loans were written off, there are a little more than 10 thousand who have money but have not repaid the loan. They are willful defaulters. Most of the people whose debts were written off belong to ‘Mehul Bhai’s company Gitanjali Gems Limited. The government has written off a loan of Rs 10 lakh crore and waived off corporate tax of almost the same amount. But it is not being called Revdi. There is no increase in the facilities of government employees who are already getting fat salary or pension. The increase in the facilities available to MPs, MLAs is not Rewari. Then how is it rewari to give free electricity, water, clothes, cycles etc. to the common people?

Then the government should not get into this discussion. The government should do its work in fun and catch the common people with a little revdi! After all, the government has been working here for decades. The government collects tax of lakhs of crores of rupees from the common people and gives salary and allowances to the ministers, MPs, MLAs and government employees of the government and spends in running the government institutions i.e. in the establishment. The total job of the government is to manage here. Tax is to be collected and salary allowance is to be paid to the employees. It is a lie that the government works for development with tax money. Now the development work is done by private companies. The government gives them the contract. After that, out of the common people’s money deposited in banks, banks give them loans and they get buildings, roads etc. For example, a plan of Rs 10 thousand crore has been announced for the improvement of railway stations in three cities. It will be made on PPP mode, that is, the government will give some money in it and the rest will be invested by the company that gets the contract. Later, if the stations are improved, then a hefty user charge will be charged from the common people going there. The job of governments is to take commission first and then collect GST. Here is the condition of the roads. The government is building a road with our tax money and then charging us big money to walk on the same road!

In fact, the problem with ‘Rewari culture’ started when the Aam Aadmi Party made it a big political weapon and started making announcements of distributing things for free everywhere. After the success in Delhi, the party successfully used it in Punjab. When he went to Gujarat and started announcing free electricity, water and giving one thousand rupees every month to adult women, then the Prime Minister felt that this ‘Rewari culture’ was a big threat to the country and democracy. It is a threat but not in the sense the Prime Minister is saying or the way the Supreme Court is interpreting it. This is not a danger in terms of increasing the financial burden as the distribution of Revdi does not cost much. Everyone knows that Revdi is the cheapest sweet. The real danger is that the governments are complicating the people in these petty things and not doing big things for the good of the common citizens. In the interest of the wider society, in the interest of the country, in the interest of the citizens, great things are not being done. Infrastructure development is not happening. Attention should be paid to this danger. The rest of the revdi should be distributed.

Shubham Bangwal

Shubham Bangwal is a Senior Journalist at Youthistaan.com You can follow him on Twitter @sb_0fficial
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