The politics of so-called freebies for which “we see a mad race” distort expenditure priorities, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Sunday. He was speaking at an event organised by the National Human Rights Commission to mark the 75th Human Rights Day, where he added that there was a need to empower human minds and human resources and not just people’s pockets.
Cautious about the upsurge in freebie politics, Mr. Dhankar said that this would undermine the basic framework of macroeconomic stability. “Empowerment of pocket through fiscal grants only increases dependence,” he said, encouraging the NHRC to catalyse a healthy national debate on freebie politics and come up with a paper on the issue.
