Elections & the raining poll promises

Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia are undisputedly two of the great economists India has ever produced. To save the country from financial bankruptcy, out of the several measures they suggested, one of them was to replace the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) with the New Pension Scheme (NPS). The logic was simple, the OPS was more regressive on the young tax payers and leaves very little room for developmental works.

The best part of this switch over from OPS to NPS is that it was done in a pure bipartisan manner, with nation-first in mind. The scheme was suggested by Mr. Manmohan Singh from INC, it was introduced by another Hon. Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003 and then rolled out in all the states by Dr. Manmohan Singh again starting 2004. Read more about it here

A few months ago, election bound Himachal Pradesh saw one of the poll promises by INC (indian National Congress) as reverting to the OPS. They successfully won the election and also fulfilled their poll promise. This was despite the clear warnings by the very same stalwart (Mr. Ahluwalia) who was one of the proponents of the NPS. In his own words and I quote "I certainly share the view that this move is absurd. It’s a?recipe just for financial bankruptcy. The big advantage of those who push the move is that bankruptcy will come 10 years later". Read more about it at here.

The result: Coffers have begun to become lighter and VAT on fossil fuels is increased in Himachal Pradesh. Though our politicians might claim it is done for other reasons such as cover the loss due to monsoon rains

Fast forward to Punjab elections: A host of promises were made. The result: Punjab govt is slated to miss the Fiscal targets by a huge margin. Read more about it here.

Fast forward to Karnataka elections. We saw a host of freebies which the newly elected govt says is trying to fulfil, it seems.

The result: From a budget surplus state 2 months ago to no funds available for developmental works, per the latest statement by Hon. Deputy Chief Minister Mr. DK Shiva Kumar. Read more about it here

There is nothing called free lunch. You end up paying for something else or the worst case scenario, the price is your future itself. It is proven that socialism has never done any good and the best way to put your money to use is to invest it and create opportunities. But the problem and the question is who can explain this to the masses who fall so easily for these promises.

Now we have upcoming elections in Rajasthan and the poll promises are only growing stronger and stronger. In addition to what was offered by the two states above, we have free smart mobile phones for women and 3 years cellular data.

Political parties are well within their rights to make promises. But isn't it high time we constitute a body, an independent one, who can evaluate these promises and their feasibility, viability and more importantly, their impact on the future generations ? The supreme court of India has started considering the petitions in this regard, which is a good move. But are the logical promises without selfish motives ever going to see the light of the day ??

Please share your opinions and views. I hope no political slugfest over this post, if the people see this in right spirit.