Freebie Politics | Is AAP deflecting attention from its failures?

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal (File image/PTI)

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal recently tried to defend his politics of freebies — the only model AAP has to offer. He tried to deflect the criticism from the politics of freebies by weaving a narrative around ‘free healthcare’ and ‘free education’ as part of nation-building.

However, the problem is about AAP’s politics of free electricity and free water, putting an unsustainable burden on the government finances, causing a reduction of funds for capacity building, apart from the several second- and third-order effects due to the price distortion. Even a cursory look at AAP’s governance record in Delhi exposes the hollowness of the defence advanced by Kejriwal.

An often-repeated claim by Kejriwal is that government schools in Delhi are performing so well that students leave private schools for government schools. Whereas, as per the Economic Survey of Delhi, 2021-22, the share of private school enrolment at the primary and middle level to total enrolment in Delhi at this level increased significantly from 31.07 percent (in 2014-15) to 43.91 percent during 2020-21.

The results of Class 10 in Delhi are also not worth tom-tomming about, and that too when in the past it has been widely reported how the Delhi government is failing Class 9 and Class 11 students in large numbers and denying them re-admission to inflate the board results. These students are being forced into a correspondence course with adequate support missing. Less than 20 percent of students take 12th class exams with maths as a subject. According to the directorate of education, 29,430 teaching posts out of 66,128 are vacant. Even posts of guest teachers and school principals are lying vacant.

The misery of Delhi’s ‘model’ education system doesn't end with schools. The AAP government has been accused of deliberately and repeatedly blocking the funds and delaying salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff in Delhi government-funded constituents' colleges of Delhi University. This situation has emerged because of the financial constraints due to irrational policies of freebies.

One look at the few 'model schools' of the Delhi government shows that funds are being awarded to contractors to build high-cost and high-maintenance infrastructure instead of functional and low-maintenance infrastructure. Such an unsustainable practice will claim an ever-increasing share of the government budget, which will be presented as a rising expenditure on education. In contrast, actual education continues to deteriorate on all the core parameters.

The scene on the healthcare front is even more dismal. Till March 2020 (till the COVID-19 pandemic broke out), the AAP government resisted the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat, thus denying free healthcare to the poorest sections of the society. According to the Economic Survey of Delhi, 2021-22, the number of hospitals came down to 88 in 2020 from 95 in 2014. As of April 2021, there were no new hospitals set up by the Delhi government. In the 2015 manifesto, AAP promised to add around 30,000 beds, but none were added till 2019. The gross mismanagement during the COVID-19 pandemic saw the Kejriwal government and mollah clinic failing to stand up to the health crisis. Delhi could not even arrange for transporting oxygen cylinders to hospitals sent by the Centre.

In 2013-2014, Delhi had 267 maternity homes. The number fell to 138 in the years 2020-2021. Fifty-three nursing homes were shut down between 2017 to 2021. There is less than one dispensary for 29,349 people in Delhi as against the mandated one dispensary per 15,000 people under the National Urban Health Mission (Praja-State of Health in Delhi, 2019). Most of the mollah clinics are present only on paper, and allocation for the same was slashed by more than 50 percent between 2017-18 to 2021. There is a shortage of 21 percent of medical staff, and 50 percent of paramedical staff in hospitals under the Delhi government (Praja report).

The reason is simply a lack of interest and competence in governance-related issues apart from the squeeze on finances caused by the freebies. This is when Delhi doesn't have to bear the burden of expenditure on police, etc., unlike the other states. To combat the worsening fiscal situation, Kejriwal brought in the controversial liquor policy to raise revenue by encouraging the consumption of alcohol. Even this policy is now marred in allegations of scams.

Unable to defend its record, AAP has resorted to misleading the public, like raising the issue of loan write-offs. It is being portrayed as a concession to the rich, whereas loan write-offs are about strengthening the bank's balance sheets so they can start lending again to accelerate economic activity. Banks will continue their efforts to recover the loans written off from the books. Since 2015, bad loans worth Rs 6.42 lakh-crore have been recovered, including Rs 1.25 lakh-crore written off as NPAs.

Abhinav Prakash Singh is assistant professor, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, Delhi. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.