File photo of BJP leader Varun Gandhi | Photo Credit: KVS Giri
BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Wednesday said that political parties have promoted a mentality of entitlement and created a welfare state from cradle to grave by giving away freebies.
Mr Gandhi, who has been raising concerns about various governance issues, said there is a need to have a conversation about the rampant misuse of public funds by offering freebies.
“It is an insult to the voters to make such promises, while many such promises remain unfulfilled directly or partially,” Mr Gandhi said. PTI talking about his latest book Indian metropolis Which discusses the challenges faced by Indian cities.
“All political parties now offer freebies and through this an entitlement mindset has been encouraged to create a cradle-to-grave welfare state,” he said.
However, he added that not every scheme or manifesto promise is free – free meals in schools for students, as offered under the mid-day meal scheme “should not be classified as freebies, it Given that it helps improve the health of our children.” He further said that to rectify this mindset of freebies initiatives would be required on many fronts.
“Parliament (and state legislatures) should be required to provide funding plans to governments (whether state or central) declaring freebies to enhance their budgetary understanding and their ability to act, write policies and conduct budgetary A budgetary office should be set up to assist in the analysis,” suggested Mr Gandhi, a three-time MP from Uttar Pradesh.
Talking about his book, which discusses the challenges faced by urban cities, Mr Gandhi said that India’s cities have “failed to consider the need for many urban green spaces” in their master plans.
“At the government level, we face a significant poverty of understanding about the value of forests and green areas in our cities and their intangible benefits,” Mr. Gandhi said.
To buttress his point, he cited the example of Mumbai and said that the city’s development plans in 1964 and 1991 sought to plan land use for a period of 20 years, but essentially led to the weakening of green spaces. It was the result of falling.
And now every year, some of Mumbai’s prized real estate gets submerged in the deluge of monsoon rains, he said.
Citing the example of Singapore, he said India needs to rethink how it manages its cities, to make our urbanization process better for the planet, where liveability and sustainability are justified. importance is given.
Mr. Gandhi has been taking a stand independent of his party on various issues such as farm laws, unemployment and other issues related to governance for some time now. He has written four books so far Indian metropolis his latest.