The cost of populism
Published by quizman December 11th, 2004 in GovernanceAs expected, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Y.S. R. Reddy has had to reconsider his populist strategy of free electricity for farmers. Quite unsurprisingly, rich farmers were major beneficiaries of this scheme. The Financial Times reports:
Jayaprakash Narayan, head of Lok Satta, a “citizen’s movement” in Hyderabad, says there is already nostalgia for Mr Naidu, even among his critics - of whom Mr Narayan was prominent.
there is another take on this: electricity is not just for irrigation, it is also used for cooking, all over the world. now, women in rural india die a lot from indoor air pollution caused by the coal, charcoal, gobar etc they use in their choolahs.
if everyone paid for electricity, these village women would live longer and better lives.
the point is - there are no free lunches.
in their village homes, these people all, without exception, are able to light an oil lamp every evening as the sun goes down - simply bcoz they pay for the oil.
they cannot find electricity for edison’s bulb, or their irrigation pumps, or their cooking ovens, simply bcoz they don’t want to pay for it.
You might want to check out , Yazad.