Excellent.
Both the parties provide Liquor,Biriyani to workers/Voters on Poll Day.
If we have elections, a day per Constituency (234 in Tamil Nadu ), none needs to work at all.
Consequences to Tamil Nadu.
In short, elections in Tamil Nadu are all about by freebies; not about anything else. And for both the ruling party and the opposition what matters today is not the performance of the government but intelligent packaging of freebies.
In the process little do the voters in Tamil Nadu realise that freebies are nothing but corrupt electoral malpractices brazenly carried out using the revenues of the state. Neither do they realize that in real life there are no free lunches.
Surely, someone somewhere has to foot the bill. More importantly, as the focus is on delivering such freebies, the overall administration suffers.
The cost: The state is caught in a debt spiral that is now believed to exceed Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1 trillion).
What is appalling is that rough calculations reveal that the freebies announced could well cost anywhere between Rs 50,000 and 250,000 crores (Rs 500 billion to Rs 2.50 trillion) — yes! — to the exchequer; so much so that, given the precarious state of the finances of the state, analysts have termed these promises as impossible to be delivered.
Below is the data on the economic parameters of the state between 2006 and 2009.
While the data for 2010 is yet to be put up on the official Web site of the Tamil Nadu government, the accompanying data reveals the precipitous fall in the performance of the state since 2006.
| Tamil Nadu | Annual | Annual | Annual | Annual | ||
| Indicator | Unit | Expression | Mar-06 | Mar-07 | Mar-08 | Mar-09 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 11.89 | 11.29 | 4.41 | 4.55 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Agriculture, forestry and fishing (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 11.67 | 12.89 | -7.1 | -2.08 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Agricuture (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 9.59 | 14.65 | -7.22 | -2.65 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Forestry and logging (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 0.44 | -5.56 | 0.73 | 1.12 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Fishing (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 40.33 | 1.97 | -7.9 | 2.93 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Industry (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 14.48 | 9.4 | 2.23 | 1.01 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Mining and quarrying (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | -2.77 | 6.45 | 0.52 | 1.79 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Manufacturing (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 16.45 | 11.34 | 4.73 | 1.97 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Manufacturing registered (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 21.37 | 11.45 | 4.04 | 1.97 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Manufacturing unregistered (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 7.35 | 11.12 | 6.17 | 1.97 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Elelectricity, gas and water supply (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | -2.77 | -10.23 | -35.49 | -48.29 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Construction (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 14.98 | 8.74 | 2.17 | 3.36 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Services (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 10.58 | 11.96 | 8.17 | 7.62 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Trade, hotel and restaurant (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 13.87 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 3.2 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Transport, storage and communication (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 11.62 | 9.58 | 11.55 | 11.07 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Railways (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 5.25 | 9.01 | 6.27 | 7.99 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Transport by other means (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 9.28 | 4.79 | 6.57 | 4.3 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Storage (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 5.91 | 11.61 | 2.52 | -0.61 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Communication (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 17.07 | 16.59 | 19.33 | 19.63 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Finance, insurance, real state and business services (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 13.09 | 14.1 | 6.79 | 4.98 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Banking and insurance (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 16.13 | 20.12 | 6.93 | 6.95 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Real states, ownership of dwellings and business services (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 10.26 | 8.21 | 6.64 | 2.84 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Community services and personal services (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 3.26 | 10.77 | 3.51 | 14.05 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Public sdministration and defence (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 1.06 | 16.48 | 0.64 | 17.57 |
| State Gross Domestic Product at factor cost at constant price: Other services (Base=99-00) | % | YoY | 4.31 | 8.13 | 4.94 | 12.37 |
The figures do not take into account the financial implications of the present freebies.
Who cares?
We have Rs.1,76,000 Crores lakh of 2G and still counting from scams which have not been investigated.
Viva la Dravidian Culture!
Tiruvarur (Tamil Nadu), Mar.24 (ANI): Campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi announced sops for students and senior citizens.
He promised free laptops to all first-year students of government-owned and government-aided professional colleges in the State if his party won the elections.
Karunanidhi said: ” In order to remove distinctions between backward classes, weaker sections of society and others and to give the benefit of IT (Information Technology) to all sections of the society, the DMK government will give laptops to all students.”
He also reduced the age eligibility of senior citizens for free bus passes from 60 years to 58 years.
He said: ” I had announced free bus pass scheme for everyone above the age of 60 years, but people who are 58 and 59 years old are unhappy because they retire at the age of 58 and have to wait for the benefit.”
” There was a demand to relax the age limit and keeping in mind their aspirations we propose to give free bus pass facilities to them,” he added.
Regional parties dominate the political scene in Tamil Nadu and elections for the 234-member Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly will take place on April 13.
Three other states, Assam, West Bengal and Kerala, besides Pondicherry, will also be hold elections next month. (ANI)
Related:
Chennai, March 19 (IANS) From free grinders to 35 kg free rice every month for 1.6 million poor families, free bus passes for senior citizens to free laptops for Dalit engineering students, increase in old age pension to new insurance scheme for fishermen, the DMK manifesto released here Saturday has offered sops to all.
It also talked about an increase in loan assistance to women self-help groups.
Released by party president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, the manifesto lined up a range of sops in a bid to woo a cross section of voters for the April 13 assembly elections.
“The DMK party fulfilled most of its promises made in its 2006 election manifesto. The party will do what it has said and that it will say what it will do. It is a manifesto for the poor,” Karunanidhi said while releasing the manifesto.
If the party’s 2006 manifesto was termed as the hero of last assembly elections, this time it will be the heroine, Karunanidhi told reporters recently.
Chennai, Mar. 24 (ANI): All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader J Jayalalithaa on Thursday opened her poll bag of freebies that more than matched the ruking Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party’s (DMK).
If DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi promised free mixies and grinders to women, Jayalalithaa offered both, plus a fan to each woman in the state.
The AIADMK manifesto also promised to provide three-phase power connection across the state in four years.
It said that all families living below poverty line (BPL) would be given 20 litres of water daily and 20 kilograms of rice free.
The DMK has offered 35 kilograms of free rice.
Jayalalithaa also promised free laptops to all class XI and class XI students, and college students, besides four free sets of uniforms and a pair of shoes for schoolchildren.
The DMK manifesto had promised laptops for first year students SC/ST, MBC and BC.
The AIADMK manifesto proposes to set up a students’ protection force to guard children against attacks and trafficking.
For the financially weaker sections, the manifesto promises free houses of 300 square feet each, costing Rs.1.8 lakh, to three lakh BPL families.
Other promises for rural areas include 60,000 cows for 6,000 families increasing milk production from 2.5 million litres to 10 million litres.
Families below the poverty line will also get four sheep.
Women’s self help groups will get loans of up to Rs.10 lakh, with a waiver of 25 percent.
Pregnant women have been promised Rs.12, 000 during four months of maternity leave.
Marriage assistance for poor women would be enhanced to Rs.25, 000, with a four-gram gold coin as a special gift. For those women with a diploma, the wedding assistance would be Rs.50, 000.
All persons above the age of 58 will be given free passes to travel by bus across districts. The AIADMK manifesto has also offered shelters for senior citizens.
The AIADMK has offered a special protection force and an assistance of Rs.4, 000 each
Leave a Reply