Welfare politics
The landslide victory of NDA in Bihar cannot be dismissed as a routine electoral triumph. It represents a watershed moment in Indian democracy where women voters have emerged as the decisive architects of political destiny. With nearly four crore women on the rolls, the distribution of Rs 10,000 each under welfare schemes was not merely a populist gesture but a calibrated strategy that transformed welfare into an electoral weapon. Allegations that Rs 14,000 crore was deployed under these schemes only underscore the scale of this political engineering. What makes this victory remarkable is the irony of Nitish Kumar’s reinvention. Once a critic of “freebie politics,” he has now embraced it with gusto, turning welfare into the cornerstone of his survival. This volte-face, coupled with Amit Shah’s granular micro-management of caste equations and campaign narratives, ensured that the BJP juggernaut steamrolled the opposition. The opposition, despite pockets of vote share strength, found itself reduced to irrelevance – proof that electoral machinery can outmatch raw numbers. It must also be noted that this is not an isolated experiment. From bicycles for schoolgirls to Jeevika self-help groups, the NDA has cultivated women’s support for nearly two decades. The “das hazari” scheme was simply the latest crescendo in this long symphony of welfare politics. The Bihar verdict, therefore, is not just about one state – it signals a replicable model of women-centric welfare politics that could cement BJP dominance nationally. The implications are profound. Welfare has shifted from being a safety net to becoming a political instrument of indefinite rule.
Everette Assis Telles, Margao
Bank accounts
There are several types of bank accounts such as savings, current, salary, pension, senior citizens, deposits (fixed, recurring), for Non-Resident Indian (NRO, NRE, FCNR) and Demat accounts. To the list, in recent years are “mule accounts,” which are accounts ‘lent’ on payment by an accountholder to cyber scammers and fraudsters. The ill-gotten money is credited into these accounts and rapidly withdrawn or electronically transferred elsewhere. When a financial cyber crime is cracked, most of the times the main culprits are not caught, while the mule accountholders are booked by the police. The scammers also have several accounts in different banks to divert the money, and tracking the trail becomes a tedious task for the cyber cops. Indian banks allow people to have more than multiple accounts in one or more banks. As per the law, details are not shared among the banks to protect the privacy of the customers unless there is a proven case of fraud, money laundering etc. when the investigators obtain information but after seeking legal permissions from the relevant authorities and the government. As there are instances of individuals and companies (fake and genuine) having several bank accounts, the Finance Ministry, in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India and all the banks (public, private, co-operative), must create a database that would have names, addresses, Aadhaar, PAN and GST details of the clients. If a client opens an account in any bank anywhere in India, s/he should justify the need to have one more account. The concerned officer could login into the database to verify the existing number of saving and/or current accounts of the client. Except these, no information about the credits, debits and balances should be displayed. Any person having more than say five accounts (savings/current), should be denied permission for a new one unless an affidavit is produced with valid reasons. The above procedure could help to weed out or at least minimise the number of accounts held by a client. Further, mule and dormant accounts could be identified for further actions.
Sridhar D Iyer, Caranzalem
On jobs scam
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday dismissed the allegations made by the prime accused in the cash-for-jobs scam Pooja Naik. On the other hand, Naik, in a video released on Sunday, declared that she was ready to face any inquiry, including a narco analysis test, to prove her innocence. She has also urged the Goa police to conduct a thorough forensic probe of all the mobile phones she used during the period of the alleged crime, insisting that the truth will emerge through a full investigation. If Sawant thinks that what Naik is speaking now is a lie, then why is he not asking the police probe team to conduct a narco test on her to bring out the truth in the case? I think the Chief Minister should appoint a judicial commission of inquiry led by a retired High Court judge to investigate the case properly.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
