It's Not 'Revdi' but 'Rabri' Culture!
Recently, several institutions representing the big bourgeois ruling class of the country have raised a hue and cry about the promises of 'Freebies' made prior to the elections. Undoubtedly, these institutions essentially represent the interests of the big bourgeois ruling classes. The senior bureaucrats, the Reserve Bank, the Union Government and even the Supreme Court have expressed concern that such distribution of grants and doles by various state governments will entail a draining of the exchequer. This may lead to an economic crisis resembling Sri Lanka.
The curtain was raised in the meeting of the prime minister with a number of secretaries from different states in the month of April. As per media reports, some of the secretaries supposedly expressed deep concern in that meeting, over the doles being given by various state governments that may precipitate a crisis similar to Sri Lanka.
This was followed by a similar reaction by the Reserve Bank. In its bulletin, published in the month of June, it expressed deep apprehension over the fiscal condition of the states and in reiterated the same logic- continuation of such doles by the state governments will lead many state governments to the Sri Lanka-like crisis. ("State Finances: a risk analysis", RBI Bulletin, June, 2022)
Then the prime minister, Narendra Modi appeared on the stage in July. In a public address, while inaugurating an expressway in Bundelkhand (UP), he accused all the opponent parties of indulging in mere 'revdi' ( small sweets of sesamum) culture to appease the people, instead of building bridges or highways, for the development of the country. His words sounded as if the government is engaged in developmental work of building bridges, highways etc for the interest of the common people. It goes without saying, neither the 'developmental work' nor the distribution of 'Freebies' are done to serve the real interest of the common people. These are done in the interest of the rich & capitalists.(India Today, July 16, 2022, https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/revdi-culture-freebies-india-development-pm-modi-bundelkhand-expressway-launch-1976364-2022-07-16)?
The Supreme Court also didn't refrain from expressing its view. In connection with a public interest litigation lodged in the month of January, a bench headed by the Chief Justice, it concluded - an independent committee will be formed consisting of members of Niti Aayog, Reserve Bank, Finance Commission, Election Commission and the political parties. This Committee will evaluate the impact of these 'Freebies' on the tax payers' money and on the general economic health of the country. It will also recommend measures to control these 'Freebies'. (The Times Of India, August 4, 2022)
The series of events unfolding from the month of April to August makes it amply clear that a public opinion is being tried to be formed against the so called culture of distribution of the 'Freebies' or revdis. This is a conscious effort on behalf of the big bourgeoisie, the ruling class, to put an end to whatever dole is being distributed among the poor people of the country. The creation of public opinion has also been started through the network of social media like Whatsapp, Facebook and other social media platforms. A blatant lie is also being circulated through Whatsapp messaging platform regarding the formation of a committee recommended by the Supreme Court. The content of the message is - the Supreme Court has directed to form a tax payers' committee, empowered to take necessary action over the misuse of their money in the name of distribution of 'Freebies'. There is no basis of such news, however we all know anything is possible in this era of fake news.
It is not merely a blatant lie rather it is part of a deep conspiracy. It carries the message that the income tax payers' are the only tax-paying public in the country and the delivery of the 'Freebies' is going on with their money alone. Nothing is further away from truth. In fact the major part of the revenue of the government comes from indirect tax i.e. from indirect taxes levied on various commodities. A report published on January 25, 2022 in The Business Standard states, that for the fiscal year of 2021, the earning from indirect tax was 10.71 Lakh Crore Rupees as against 9.45 Lakh Crore Rupees from direct tax.(https://www.business-standard.com/podcast/finance/what-are-direct-and-indirect-taxes-122012500094_1.html). The burden of indirect taxes weighs most heavily on the workers, since they have to purchase each and every item for sustenance. Their entire income goes toward purchasing the necessities of life. Most of the time the capitalists fix a higher price on various commodities utilizing their monopoly control over them. On the top of it when indirect taxes are levied on the inflated prices, the purchase prices of commodities escalate further and the burden has to be borne by the workers and the toiling masses. On the other side of the story, even after payment of Income Tax and/or Corporate Tax, the wealthy possesses large amount of surplus. Moreover, the government offers numerous relaxations on direct taxes. In addition there are many instances of direct tax evasion. But this cannot happen in the case of indirect taxes. There is no way to evade a single penny on this account. How the GST net has been spread to levy tax on each single item of necessity, how the heavy taxation imposed on petrol and diesel (keeping it outside the GST tax structure) has increased the central and state government coffers significantly, all these have been discussed in the public domain in volumes. We are refraining from repeating it here. However a recent example may not be improper. The government has unleashed a brutal attack on the toiling masses very recently, by levying 5% GST even on the most basic cereals such as rice, wheat etc. but the common man is burdened by a price rise of such commodities to the extent of 20-25%. As a result the prices of essential commodities such as rice, wheat, flour, and biscuit have all gone up.
The above figures reveal the brazen lie being publicized that the 'Freebies' distributed to the poor is at that cost of the money of the rich, who pay direct taxes, On the contrary, the truth is the government gives several concessions and grants to the rich at the expense of indirect tax imposed on the poor people. Sometime back the Finance Minister declared - the expenses incurred by the government toward health care and education cannot be termed as distribution of 'Freebies'. It is part of the duty of the government and it spends from its tax earnings (even the taxes accrued from petrol and diesel). It is as if the government has ensured a system of free universal health care and education for its citizens with the funds collected from taxes. These people have lost even the semblance of mere shame. The very government who doesn't spend even 2.5% of the GDP (the average global public health spending is more than 6%) in each of these sectors, proclaims universal education and health to be their duty and they are performing it well enough. Probably they will surpass even Goebbels in fake propaganda. Every citizen is a witness, not only to the insufficient number of government hospitals but also to the abysmal condition in which they run. People, who are left with no other alternative, are forced to attend government hospitals. The same holds good for public schools and colleges. The abject condition of these government institutions is forcing people to opt for private sector. Even in the government sector the rules of private sector are being implemented. The course fees of public colleges have surged almost to the level off its private counterparts. Even though students are relieved from paying tuition fees in government schools, the costs of text books, exercise copies, pens, pencils forms no insignificant part. Then the bulk of the spending goes toward obtaining private tuition, without which, it has become almost impossible to perform decently in the exams. Not to speak of the upper class and the middle class, now-a-days even some of the poor worker families are sending their children to private institutions, by curtailing many necessary expenditure. This is the plight of the dwindling government educational institutions. Is the Finance Minister trying to sell this as fulfilling the responsibility of universal health care and education?
The PM accused the opposition parties of delivering 'revdi' to the people instead of engaging in developmental works. But what kind of developmental work have the governments undertaken for the people with the money collected from them, be it the Central or the State governments, BJP or non-BJP ruled? Heavy toll taxes are imposed even on any new bridge or highway that comes up for their maintenance as well as to compensate the cost of building them. All governments are foregoing their responsibility of ensuring public transportation services by continually increasing the rail and bus fare on the pretext that the cost is becoming unmanageable. Even on the alibi of Corona pandemic the railways have withdrawn the concessions given earlier to senior citizens and some other beneficiaries. A few days back the minister for railways stated that considering the ill economic health of railways it is not possible to re-implement those concessions. The unit cost of electricity is also escalating day by day. All this is happening, in spite of the fact that the basic duty of the government is to provide such essential services to its citizens. The common people pay taxes in order to enjoy these services. But on the plea of providing these services while the governments are continually collecting increased charges, on the other hand in a very planned manner it is being put into the minds of the common masses that - 'There is no such thing as a free lunch'. But from where does the question of 'free lunch' arise at all? Even after the public hand you over lakhs of crores of rupees in lieu of taxes how do you say that the governments are serving free? Their falsification of truth is limitless.
Anyway, what else can we expect from the governments which act as lackeys of the big bourgeoisie ruling class in the present system? They are placed in the government to serve the very interests of the big bourgeoisie. The huge costs towards maintaining the police and military, a top-heavy administration, the numerous tax cuts, concessions and packages offered to the capitalists eats up a considerable portion of the government exchequer. But when the issue of reducing the price of electricity costs and other essential services arises for the peasants and other toiling masses, the PM makes allusion to 'revdi' culture and the Supreme Court terms it as 'Freebies'. What a joke! The actual 'Freebies' are delivered to the capitalists. When land is given free, electricity is provided at reduced rates, tax holidays are declared, for setting up industries, what can we call that? Aren't those Freebies? It is heard that the Modi government, between 2014 - 2017 has given 72,000 Crore Rupees of tax relief to the Adani group and the more startling fact is in the last five years, the public sector banks have written off loans to the scale of 7.27 Lakh Crores of Rupees. What exact term can be used for it, other than 'Rabri' culture?
On one hand the working class, poor peasants, agricultural labourers are struggling to somehow etch out a living under tremendous exploitation by big capitalists, while on the other there is an ever increasing burden of rising government taxes. Aided by the government adopted labour policy, the exploitation has been intensified by the capitalists. Almost every new employment has become contractual, no job security, a back-breaking 12 hours duty coupled with a meagre wage have pulverised the working class like never before. This all-pervading exploitation has generated enormous wealth for the capitalists. In rural country-side, the introduction of new machines has robbed the agricultural labours of their job. The poor peasants are not being able to hold on to their land. It has become veritably impossible for these people to survive. At the one end, the capitalists in pursuit of more profits are increasing the prices of commodities, and at the other, the increased government taxes on them, is skyrocketing the prices of everyday usable commodities. The end result is - on one pole there is a huge accumulation of wealth while at the other end there is perpetual want and poverty.
The inequality, contributed by three decades of globalisation, has aggravated to such an extent that it is creating some sense of discomfort even to some billionaires at the top. To mitigate such inequality, the government is forced to implement some welfare measures. That is the reason they have resorted to schemes like MNREGA (a rural job guarantee of 100 days work), a public distribution system of rice and wheat at no/low cost, old-age pension, pension for the widows etc. One of its purposes is to maintain this system of exploitation by ensuring that the limitless exploitation does not give rise to any uncontrollable outburst of the poor people challenging this very system. But there is another reason also. The utterly corrupt, anti-people political parties thriving within this wretched parliamentarian system have got nothing else to offer of more worth, other than these meagre and inconsequential reliefs. It is a pity - that in absence of peoples' struggle - the sense of right of the toiling masses has sunk so low that people at large are accepting these reliefs eagerly.
Taking advantage of the absence of this sense of rights, of entitlement, among the people, all the political parties, aspiring to win the elections, are competing in distributing such doles and relief. And with this ongoing competition the ambit of relief is gradually increasing. But anyway firstly, these reliefs cannot be termed as 'Freebies', since, it neither comes from those party funds, nor are the governments paying for this from the taxes paid by the rich. These are the fruits received by the common people from the taxes they pay. Secondly, to whatever extent these reliefs are extended it is not only still inadequate but meagre also.
Then what is the cause of such uproar? Actually the big bourgeoisie is afraid of losing their share as a result of providing such relief. Hence they are pressurising the government to do away even with such meagre relief measures. However this cannot be achieved by the BJP or the union government alone. In order to create pressure on all the political parties, Modi and the BJP, the most reliable and crafty representative of the ruling big bourgeoisie, have raised uproar against these so called culture of 'Freebies'. Many would remember that on the eve of union election of 2014, the ruling big bourgeoisie placed a charter of demands, which contained recommendation for curtailment of several such welfare measures. Even Modi, after getting elected in 2014, announced to roll back the MNREGA scheme, but was forced to revoke the decision. But now, they have started the move in full swing to implement the plan for curtailment of demands. It is difficult to predict exactly which plans/schemes they are targeting. However it appears that the subsidy on electricity will be withdrawn first. Even they can withdraw the MNREGA scheme. Hence, now the ruling classes have planfully embarked on an intense campaign against these social welfare measures, thereby creating a social consensus, so that the other parties will be forced to limit their election promises regarding these schemes. It is easy to influence the middle and upper-middle class on this issue. They patently think - they are the only tax payers, whatever reliefs are provided to the poor, goes exclusively from their pockets. They think that the poor are enjoying at their expense. To state in simple terms - the attack on 'revdi' culture is plainly to upend the on- going practice of whatever little reliefs are being received by the poor. On the plea of stopping revdi distribution it is actually being ensured that the whole of rabri i.e. thewealth generated by the working class and the peasants goes only to the Tatas-Birlas, Adanis-Ambanis etc, All will be offered to the ruling class as a largesse, there will remain nothing even as leftover for the toiling masses. Thus in reality it's not revdi but rabri culture.
The ruling class taking full advantage of the unorganised condition of the working class and the toiling masses have intensified their attack on them. They are openly challenging these masses - 'we will snatch away everything from you, let's see how you can resist'. The class conscious workers, the struggling toiling masses ought to provide a befitting reply to this challenge. But will they only strive to preserve whatever paltry reliefs are already being enjoyed by them? No, they will demand their full share, all the fruits of their labour. When they will rise, when they will organise themselves, they will cease to be duped by lollypops of such scanty 'Freebies' given by the bourgeois parties and the governments. They will do anything and everything to get hold on their full entitlement.
August 24, 2022.
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