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Wednesday, August 6, 2025
TopicFreebies

Topic: Freebies

Not ‘freebies’ –Tamil Nadu has given India a market-friendly Dravidian welfare model

As the ‘freebie’ debate again reaches the Supreme Court, Indian states should get to decide how to best use their resources for welfare.

‘Freebies not bribes but shake root of fair polls’ — what SC said in 2013 order it plans to revisit

SC in 2013 held that promises of freebies in election manifestos are not bribery or corruption. CJI NV Ramana agrees to constitute a bench to re-examine the judgment.

Revadi jibe shows Modi govt letting its insecurities do the talking, not economics

Why exactly should the Prime Minister be worried about the welfare model of an opposition party that barely controls two state governments?

In the debate over freebies, India is forgetting it traded rule of law for welfare services

India's want for freebies comes from envy of European welfare countries. But the govt must fix the law first.

Curbs on poll speeches over ‘freebies’ won’t fix fiscal deficit, AAP tells SC

Restrictions on electoral speech would be unconstitutional & court-appointed expert panel on 'freebies' should focus on govts' budgetary allocations, AAP says in submission to SC.

‘Abused for welfare schemes’: How AAP is trying to fight BJP after Modi’s ‘revdi’ remark

On 16 July, Modi ‘cautioned’ people against freebies. AAP has since been trying to turn the tables saying that the BJP had a problem with its free education and healthcare schemes.

Electricity or schools? Roads or hospitals? Why it isn’t easy for Modi to fix ‘freebies’

So used are Indians to handouts that they will opt for doles instead of measures that can help in the future. But, the thumb rule is not to overspend beyond one's means.

‘We are cracking down’— how Modi govt plans to make it tougher for states to fund freebies

The Narendra Modi government is looking at ways to check states’ spending on handouts like free electricity and rations. The first step is to tighten the noose on state borrowings.

Is ‘freebie’ a disease? What SC hears is out of sync with poor India’s logic of democracy

I agree that free electricity is a bad policy. But why do we get worked up only about policies that offer gifts to ordinary people? Why don't we worry about tax cuts and loan waivers to the super rich?

On Camera

The court is not Rahul Gandhi’s uncle. Its job is to protect rights, not preach

Which humanitarian crisis should be prioritised, which words are ‘simple’ enough to avoid hurt feelings, or who is a ‘true Indian’, are not questions warranting court input.

BJP MPs go full throttle against Trump even as govt hails enduring India-US ties amid tariff tension

New Delhi: While the Indian government has made a measured response to the 25 percent trade tariff imposed by Donald Trump, many in the BJP...

Trump feared India could arm BrahMos with nuclear warhead to target Pakistan in Op Sindoor—WSJ report

New Delhi: During Operation Sindoor, the United States which had received intelligence suggesting that India had launched BrahMos cruise missiles to strike targets inside...

Pakistan, Dhaka have played Washington well. Back home, Modi ecosystem has an inner conflict

To protect ourselves from Trumpian diplomacy, first we must introspect the bipolarity within our establishment discourse.