A government can be viewed as a very special service
provider for its citizens. Its principal duties being to protect the
rights, life and honor of its citizens, and make and enforce laws for the
purpose. These services are paid for by its consumers - the citizens.
The payment is in the form of contributions to the economy and payment of
taxes. In return the citizens get the right to choose the people who can
best provide these services.
It is unfortunate that those who have tasted the fruits of power grow so
addicted to it that instead of performing they resort to bribing sections of
electorate through offers of free entitlements. To be sure these are not
free. These have to be paid for by the productive citizens. There
is a very real danger here. The aspirants in a democratic system will be all
too happy if the recipients of free entitlements are and remain or grow to be
more numerous than the productive ones. For this majority will keep them
in power. They don't care for the productive minority or the long term fallout
for there will be another election in the long run!
It is true that there are destitutes in our country who do need support from
the state. However it cannot be gainsaid that the long term goal ought to
be to enhance the number of citizens who take pride in their contributions to
the economy and are capable of paying for quality governance. This calls
for striving to bring down the numbers of those who have to be provided free
services and more.
This desirable long term goal seems to be in conflict with the political
machinations in a democratic system. How can this be corrected while
holding on to democracy? A clue is provided by Article 102 of the
Constitution of India. It says that a person shall be disqualified
for being chosen as, and for being, a member of either house of Parliament, if
he holds any "office of profit" under the Government of India or the
Government of any State. The reasons must be obvious. You should
not be the one to define and amend the system if you directly benefit from it.
On the same lines adult franchise should be limited to those who are net
contributors to the economy. One way of doing so could be to limit the
right to vote to income tax payers howsoever small be the tax paid by them.
However this will exclude the most important class of citizens, namely
agriculturists, from the democratic process. So the criterion could
be to include all income tax payers and all those who have an income which is
at least two times the monetary value of all subsidies and entitlements
received by them at current market prices. Those who do not meet
these two criteria should be excluded from adult franchise (It is these
people who have been referred to in the title of this blog post as Citizens for
Profit.) This will arrest the political processes that seek to
maintain and increase destitution for garnering votes.
It may be argued that it is going to be a tough job to identify the people who
are to be excluded. But this may not be the case. All the recipients of
subsidies and entitlements are always required to produce an income certificate
from a local government functionary first. All that is needed is a
liaison between this official and the election commission's office.It may also
be argued that as such destitutes will have no power to vote, no party would
care for them. I feel that they would, on the contrary, show genuine care
for them and try to lift them to the voting class as a loyal supporter.
I would love to hear your views on the topic.
A government can be viewed as a very special service
provider for its citizens. Its principal duties being to protect the
rights, life and honor of its citizens, and make and enforce laws for the
purpose. These services are paid for by its consumers - the citizens.
The payment is in the form of contributions to the economy and payment of
taxes. In return the citizens get the right to choose the people who can
best provide these services.
It is unfortunate that those who have tasted the fruits of power grow so addicted to it that instead of performing they resort to bribing sections of electorate through offers of free entitlements. To be sure these are not free. These have to be paid for by the productive citizens. There is a very real danger here. The aspirants in a democratic system will be all too happy if the recipients of free entitlements are and remain or grow to be more numerous than the productive ones. For this majority will keep them in power. They don't care for the productive minority or the long term fallout for there will be another election in the long run!
It is true that there are destitutes in our country who do need support from the state. However it cannot be gainsaid that the long term goal ought to be to enhance the number of citizens who take pride in their contributions to the economy and are capable of paying for quality governance. This calls for striving to bring down the numbers of those who have to be provided free services and more.
This desirable long term goal seems to be in conflict with the political machinations in a democratic system. How can this be corrected while holding on to democracy? A clue is provided by Article 102 of the Constitution of India. It says that a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of either house of Parliament, if he holds any "office of profit" under the Government of India or the Government of any State. The reasons must be obvious. You should not be the one to define and amend the system if you directly benefit from it.
On the same lines adult franchise should be limited to those who are net contributors to the economy. One way of doing so could be to limit the right to vote to income tax payers howsoever small be the tax paid by them. However this will exclude the most important class of citizens, namely agriculturists, from the democratic process. So the criterion could be to include all income tax payers and all those who have an income which is at least two times the monetary value of all subsidies and entitlements received by them at current market prices. Those who do not meet these two criteria should be excluded from adult franchise (It is these people who have been referred to in the title of this blog post as Citizens for Profit.) This will arrest the political processes that seek to maintain and increase destitution for garnering votes.
It may be argued that it is going to be a tough job to identify the people who are to be excluded. But this may not be the case. All the recipients of subsidies and entitlements are always required to produce an income certificate from a local government functionary first. All that is needed is a liaison between this official and the election commission's office.It may also be argued that as such destitutes will have no power to vote, no party would care for them. I feel that they would, on the contrary, show genuine care for them and try to lift them to the voting class as a loyal supporter.
I would love to hear your views on the topic.
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