After Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal announced the Sanjeevani Yojana, the freebie politics or the “revdi ki rajneeti” attained new heights just before the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025.
At the same time, it also raised questions on the feasibility of such freebies considering the fragile financial health of the state.
While economists have expressed concerns over the long-term impact of freebie politics, they also want to know if the state government will be able to manage the funds for these schemes and at what cost.
Arvind Kejriwal Announces Sanjeevani Yojana To Counter PM-JAY
Under the Sanjeevani Yojana, all residents of Delhi above the age of 60 can get free treatment in government-run as well as private hospitals irrespective of their income.
After the AAP rejected the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), it announced its own scheme, that may come into effect if the party returns to power.
Launched on September 23, 2018, in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the PM-JAY scheme offers an annual insurance cover of Rs 5,00,000 per family on a flotter basis, i.e., the amount may be used by one or member of a family.
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However, the Sanjeevani scheme offers free treatment to all above the age of 60. There would be no upper limit to the cost of treatment and all expenses would be met by the Govt of Delhi.
How Much Do Freebies Cost?
About 25 lakh senior citizens would come under the scheme. Experts believe the Delhi government will have to fork out about Rs 1,000 crore under this scheme.
Political experts have raised questions over the feasibility of such schemes.
The Delhi government runs many popular schemes, that have put it under a tremendous financial burden.
Cost Of Free Electricity
The AAP-led Delhi government gives 200 units of fee electricity every month to all households. Under this scheme, the government spent Rs 1,639 crore in 2015-16, it increased to Rs 2,968 crore in 2021-22. Besides, the Power Department has asked the state government to pay Rs 3,200 for the power subsidy for the year 2022-23.
DJB Under Red Due To Free Water Scheme?
After the AAP promised free water, the Delhi Jal Board announced to supply free water up to 20 KL per month to consumers who have functional meters. It also said that domestic consumers consuming more than 20 KL per month will be billed as per the applicable tariff.
The losses of the DJB kept up growing since 2015 when the AAP returned to power with 67 seats and Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister. Its losses tripled from Rs 220.19 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 663 crore in 2018-19.
If the CAG report is to be believed, Rs 26,620 crore was lent to the DJB in 1998-99. It returned Rs 351 crore till March 31, 2018, and Rs 26,269 crore was outstanding.
Women’s Free Bus Rides Go UP
Delhi government’s free bus ride scheme for women has bled the Delhi Transport Corporation red. Under the scheme, women are given a pink ticket, for which they have to pay nothing.
According to the DTC data, pink tickets represented 25% of total sales in 2020-21. It increased to 28% in 2021-22. It has gone up to 46% all tickets sold in 2023-24.
Can’t They Pay?
Another aspect of these schemes is: who are the beneficiaries of these schemes and how their economic conditions have improved over the years. The per capita annual income of Delhi in 2020-21 at current prices was Rs 6,52,649.
Out of 54.5 lakh electricity consumers, 43.2 lakh people get electricity either free of cost or at half price, though a big chunk of them can pay for the same.
Besides, as many as 5.3 lakh households get 20 KL of free water every month, though most of them can pay for this.
Capital Expenditure Plummets
If reports are to be believed, the economic condition of Delhi is in shambles. Delhi registered a growth of 19.6% in capital expenditure from 1999 to 2014-15 as it increased from Rs 510.5 crore to Rs 7,430 crore.
However, it went up from Rs 7,430 crore to Rs 11,549 crore, a growth of 9.2% from 2015-16 to 2020-21.
In other words, the growth in capital expenditure has come down during the first five years of the Arvind Kejriwal government.
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Expressing concerns about the financial condition of the state, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena pointed out that Rs 78,800 crore was allocated for capital expenditure in budget proposals last year, but only 20% or just Rs 16,230 crore capital expenditure was used. On the other hand, Rs 5,587 crore was used for loan repayment.
Loan For Freebies?
The financial health of the Delhi government can also be gauged by the fact that it sought to borrow Rs 10,000 crore from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) for the current financial year 2024-25.
The Atishi-led AAP government is supposed to have sought this loan to continue giving free services, such as electricity and water and other things.
