With the goal of building a socialist society, the government provided many freebies to the common people in the fields of education, health and food distribution. However, the mighty Western countries that are horizons apart in development, are averse to such freebie schemes and they simply loathe the idea. Western developed countries who believe in the capitalist system, and the World Bank have opposed giving such freebies. Top lending agencies and others in the domain are constantly demanding that no subsidy should be given to fertilizers and gas. Minding the acuity in prediction from the Western counterparts, India has duly followed their words and has reduced many such subsidy programs by half.

For the elites in society who are financially well off, the cutting down of such a subsidy scheme will not cause any hiccups. They can still live a luxurious life without any government gratuities. But this is not the case for everyone in India. The middle class depends on freebies. With such schemes getting reduced, the lives of those in the middle class become more strained. It will be detrimental for the poorest in society who mostly lead a life through government freebies.

India is surging ahead and has imbibed the idea of development to the core. Within a few years, the country will achieve new heights, but it won’t simply erase the fact that the same country houses billions of poor people. Turning a blind eye to them at this juncture of elections won't bode well with any political entity. Therefore, Prime Minister Modi's announcement that the central government's free ration scheme will continue for the next five years gave relief to many ears.

Modi made this announcement during the assembly election campaign in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. So Congress is alleging that this is a violation of the election rules. Let the Election Commission look into the matter. But this announcement is totally acceptable to people as it benefits 81 crore people living in different states of India.

After the end of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, a free ration scheme started in 2020 during the President Kovid era, a new scheme was implemented in January by completely freeing the rice ration given to yellow card and pink card holders under the National Food Security Scheme. the scheme is on the brink of ending in December, but then, in a timely intervention, PM Modi has extended the scheme for another five years.

A yellow card holder will get 30 kg of rice and 5 kg of wheat free. Each Pink Card member gets 4 kg of rice and 1 kg of wheat. When the scheme is extended, 1.54 crore yellow and pink card members in Kerala will continue to get this freebie. Extending the free ration scheme for five years will incur an additional cost of Rs 2 lakh crore to the Centre. It is never a price too much to fill the hungry stomachs in the country.