The freebies on which the judiciary has frowned points to how the future of a state’s, or even a country’s economy could be jeopardised by giveaways which have less to do with welfare and more with merely getting elected at the state’s cost. Competitive freebies only
ensure recklessness.

Such freebies have enormous negative impact. For instance, post-nationalisation, Indira Gandhi’s political minions told the poor during elections that bank loans at a differential rate
of interest were “non-returnable”. The banks were bled; the poor were not guided in its use; cutbacks were taken from cobblers. Election manifestoes encourage wastefulness. That is how it all started, setting in motion a vicious grip of crime and money on politics.

The disqualification of a convicted elected representative, even at a lower court, without allowing them to be law-makers while waiting for appeals to be disposed of, puts us and them on par; fair indeed, for, even if wrongly convicted in a lower court we cannot hope to get a job while the criminal politicians had continued to make laws.