The other day, I read an editorial decrying Siddaramaiah for his 'populist' budget, in which several 'sops' had been announced. Mr. Siddaramaiah has announced a series of measures for poor people. I had an inkling that something was afoot, because a day before the budget, I met a senior officer of the government, in connection with Accountability Initiative's work and she had a look of quiet triumph on her face.
Lets look at some of the measures that Siddaramaiah has announced in his budget.
Mr. Siddaramaiah has announced that hot meals will be served for pregnant and lactating mothers for the critical 20 months of pregnancy and lactation. That will benefit 12 lakh mothers. A pilot programme undertaken last year was found to yield great benefits and it is going to be upscaled across the State.
Eggs will be given to 18 lakh children through Anganwadis. Thus, the number of eggs given to them per week, will double.
The milk given to children for 3 days so far, will be increased to 5 days in total. That will benefit 38 lakh children.
These are 'sops?'
My dear poor little rich people, who live on the twentieth floor of your humble tenements, some examples of 'sops' are as follows:
(a) That your filth flows into our frothing lakes and pollutes ground water, and that you don't pay for it.
(b) That the concrete jungles that you live in, are built from millions of tons of crushed granite and sand scraped from Karnataka's beautiful plateau, rendering thousands of acres of land waste, arid, and prone to flash floods. And you don't pay enough for it
(c) That the baccalaureate schools to which you send your children, and for which you pay lakhs of rupees as fees, don't pay property taxes to the Panchayats and Municipalities where they are located.
(d) That even the bloody international airport from where you board your flights, does not pay property tax.
I want to round up those journalists who write rapturously about tax breaks for individuals being an example of great governance, whilst saying that increasing nutrition outlays for children are sops. I want to suspend my belief in non-violence for a few moments, and bonk their heads together.
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