Goa must balance targeted social welfare with fiscal health by using the ‘3-A framework’ to reject risky electoral freebies ahead of the 2027 assembly polls
Public policy has always identified welfare politics as a tool to address social and economic vulnerability. The objective is to achieve equity and social justice generally targeting disadvantaged or vulnerable sections of the society. India has seen social welfare interventions through planning process for poverty reduction, free education, pensions, mid-day meals, public healthcare, nutrition programmes etc. These have an outcome-oriented approach designed as a continuing public policy.
In India, whether it is allocation of resources in budget or devolution of resources from Centre to states, on national policy perspective, social development has generally preceded economic development. The concept of BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) states has guided the successive central governments in prioritising the first right of resources to the states/regions that are socially and economically backward. Even today, various central government targeted programmes like providing free gas connection, free food grains, free housing etc, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, are the testimony of continued public policy on social justice.
A programme does not become a freebie simply because it is free to the beneficiary. For example, if the government provides free school education, the beneficiary does not pay, but society receives long-term benefit through improved human capital. Similarly, mid-day meals for schoolchildren may be free to the child but serve nutritional, educational and social objectives. These interventions being merit goods deserve justification, as the combined social benefit is larger than the personal benefit to the beneficiary.
On the other hand, freebies like free electricity, free water, free consumer goods, free bus journey, free gas cylinders, unemployment doles etc though have little measurable developmental purpose but are found to be politically attractive, influencing voting patterns in some states. Such freebies may largely be categorised as non-merit subsidies, as private benefits outsmart the combined social benefit.
Therefore, the distinction between welfare politics and freebies culture should be based on purpose, design, targeting, economic rationale and measurable outcomes, not merely on whether the beneficiary pays zero.
Goa has always prioritised social welfare as its policy objective and the same is embodied as welfare politics in the political strategy of different political parties. The strong initial foundation laid for social services sector by the first chief minister late Dayanand Bandodkar, especially setting up of educational and health institutions at the nook and corner, has paid rich dividend in emerging Goa as a frontrunner in human development parameters.
While the priority set became irreversible, the successive governments have added different layers on it, strengthening the commitment towards the social sector. Presently, Goa is implementing massive welfare programmes like Dayanand Social Security Scheme, Griha Aadhar Scheme, Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana etc reaching out to lakhs of vulnerable sections of the population on Antyodaya principle. In addition, there are numerous other welfare schemes in different sectors that are being implemented by the Goa government. In this regard, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has pioneered the largest consolidation of welfare delivery into a political-governance programme through his flagship Atmanirbhar Bharat-Swayampurna Goa initiative reaching out to the doorsteps of eligible beneficiaries at the village and ward levels.
While Goa has a long tradition of social welfare, the 2022 assembly election marked a visible shift towards competitive electoral welfare, with political parties experimenting broader, more immediate and increasingly universal freebie-style promises. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tried to replicate its seemingly successful freebie culture in other states by announcing free water, free electricity, free health, free education, unemployment dole, monthly financial assistance to every woman, one job to every household etc. While the BJP promised three LPG cylinders per year, the Congress promised direct financial benefit to the poorest families, employment fund etc. But, the BJP’s return to power in 2022, despite the Opposition’s strong freebie-oriented promises, raises a fundamental question, how much weight do Goan voters actually attach to freebie-driven politics when making their electoral choices?
Any free benefit scheme either welfare-oriented or a freebie, once implemented is difficult to withdraw. Though, in Delhi, the AAP was criticised for giving free electricity with a financial burden of more than Rs 3,000 crore per year on the government exchequer, the newly elected BJP government has not shown political will to withdraw it. On the other hand, Goa has withdrawn welfare schemes like Cyberage Students Scheme of providing computers/laptops, House Building Advance Scheme etc. More recently, Sawant has shown the grit to withdraw his own scheme of providing free water supply citing widespread misuse and excessive consumption.
Despite implementing massive welfare programmes, the Sawant government has succeeded in good financial management by repeatedly achieving revenue surplus and successfully moderating the rate of growth in debt accumulation. This fiscal consolidation has helped the state in deploying higher outlays for capital expenditure, boosting infrastructure development. Against this backdrop, a more fundamental question that merits the consideration of the Goan electorate is ‘Can Goa afford increasingly less outcome-oriented, freebie-type populist announcements if they come at the cost of weakening revenue-collection institutions and ultimately, the state’s overall financial health?’
Therefore, the Three-A conceptual test comprising Acceptability, Affordability and Accountability will be a useful framework to the Goan voters for assessing whether an electoral welfare promise is a legitimate social welfare measure or a fiscally risky freebie-style promise. The test for Acceptability needs to answer ‘Is the benefit socially justified and reasonably acceptable’. In terms of Affordability, the question is ‘Can the government sustainably pay for it’. The Accountability aspect demands transparency in terms of eligibility, beneficiary data, cost disclosure, outcomes, audit and sunset/exit provisions. However, while elections in Goa cannot be won on freebie inducements alone, it may not be surprising if political parties still consider it as an added instrument to influence voters in 2027 assembly elections.
(Dr Suresh Shanbhogue is a retired senior bureaucrat.)
