In Freebie Warfare In Poll-Bound Madhya Pradesh, BJP Hesitant As Debt Exceeds State Budget

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to counter the Congress' freebie promises, with its own freebie announcements in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, it also has the state's debt burden in mind.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced yesterday (6 August) that the collection of electricity bills of those poor people who have received significantly high bills will be temporarily kept on hold, and an order has been issued to investigate the bill amount once again.

The CM declared that the high electricity bills will be reduced, and if anyone is unable to pay, the Shivraj government will cover their bill.

While Shivraj's electricity freebie is conditional and less precise, leaving room for limiting the burden on the government exchequer, Congress has promised free electricity up to 100 units for all, with the next 100 units at half the bill amount.

Similarly, for farmers, Congress has promised free power for 5 horsepower pumps used for irrigation, waiver of electricity bill, uninterrupted power supply for 12 hours, resumption of the 2018 loan waiver scheme, and withdrawing cases registered against farmers relating to agitations.

On the contrary, BJP has announced a waiver of just interest on the farm loans. “Our government will pay the interest amount of farmers so that they do not remain defaulters and can get the benefit of crop loan scheme at 0 per cent interest,” Chouhan said.

He claimed that Rs 2,123 crore would be waived off for 11.19 lakh farmers and targeted Kamal Nath government by stating that only Rs 6,000 crore of the standing Rs 48,000 crore loans were waived off in 1.25 years.

Coming to freebies for women, Shivraj's Ladli Behana Yojana doles out a monthly payout of Rs 1,000 to women, while the Congress has promised a greater amount of Rs 1,500.

However, CM Chouhan has also promised that slowly the monthly amount will be raised to Rs 3,000.

Another Congress promise is that LPG cylinders will be available for Rs 500. While the buzz is strong that BJP too can make such an announcement, the party seems hesitant for now.

There are 1.2 crore cooking gas connections in Madhya Pradesh and 71.41 lakh of them have got cylinders under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

BJP is yet to decide whether Rs 500 cylinders will be available for all or only for Ujjwala beneficiaries. The decision is likely to be made after 15 August.

Congress' fifth promise is to bring the Old Pension Scheme promise, and the BJP doesn't have any plan to counter it.

It should be noted that Madhya Pradesh is currently grappling with a staggering debt of approximately Rs 3.5 lakh crore, and experts reveal that the per capita debt has surged significantly over the past five to six years.

Considering the debt statistics, each citizen in the state carries a burden of Rs 41,000. This is a stark contrast to the figures recorded in FY 2013-14, when the per capita debt was Rs 10,896, and by the end of March 2016, it had escalated to Rs 13,853.

To illustrate the severity of the economic condition, during the previous fiscal year 2022-2023, the state presented an annual budget of Rs 2.79 lakh crore, while the government's mounting debt stood at Rs 3.31 lakh crore.

Even with the 'self-reliant' annual budget of Rs 3.14 lakh crore presented in March this year by the Shivraj government for the financial year 2023-2024, it was unable to surpass the total state debt, which reached Rs 3.29 lakh crore.