India got its independence from the clutches of invaders after almost a thousand years and we are now trying to become a self-sustaining economy and a proud country leading on many fronts. We have been able to sustain our culture, language, education, and belief system even though invaders be it Mughals or British tried their level best to break the backbone of our Bharatiya culture and way of life but our rich civilisation has been able to survive every blow received with subtle defiance. We all are proud of our Bharatiya culture.

One of the vices that we need to take away is the need to subside anything and everything. Starting with the protection of backward classes is necessary for bringing up the most neglected or the weak but this should not be based on the caste system but should be based on the economic condition of the population. If we want to take away the caste system then why we should retain caste considerations for Government freebies? 

The subsidy culture is nothing but a vote bank tool of the political class or the parties and it is a detrimental factor in a democratic setup.  That means it helps sway the votes in favour of some political influences compromising national interests such as economic development and advocating corrupt practices. 

Be it the reservation policy in employment, education, or businesses it is not doing any good and if we can research to know whether there is any benefit it now creates or rather than divides the society in all platforms, it can be found that it is a weak link in the good governance ecosystem that the Governments nowadays speak of. Reservation or subsidy makes no economic sense nor does impact the overall national interest.

Protection is necessary, but for who is the big question. Subsidising anything for life long is not a healthy sign as we all know. Will we give everything on a plate to the next generation all the time? There is a time when a father wants their children be it a boy or a girl to be self-sufficient. Then why look for subsidies all the time?

NE India is often called a subsidy state of the country. We are called a backward region and thus need protection. But what has it yielded? Are we proud of being called a subsidy state? We hardly contribute 3% to the GDP of the country. How long we can be dependent on others? Why do we need to be protected? Why tax exemptions when we can very well take care of ourselves? 

State Governments offer tax exemptions to attract investments. Why? To what benefit? Let there be a culture of ‘ease of doing business’ in real terms and not just some economic takeaways to attract the spurious business entities. How many local entrepreneurs make good of the exemptions? Only the big and might take all the advantages.

These are the questions we should be asking, and debating in our classrooms, Assemblies and Parliament. Give a hard look into what we are creating for our states and country as a whole. Can we have some leaders who can take those calls? I am optimistic and our youths shall be changing the eco-system if not today but tomorrow.

This subsidy culture is only going to make us weak rather than make us productive and developed… 

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