Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls, announcement of schemes like the Ladki-Bahin scheme reduce citizens to being ‘subjects’ rather than persons with basic constitutional rights.

Image Courtesy: PTI

Times have definitely changed.

There was a time earlier when a postcard sent by an ordinary citizen had spurred the judiciary into action, not any more.

One does not know whether the legal notice sent by a conscientious journalist to the Maharashtra government will similarly have any impact or not.

The focus of this legal notice is on the recent scheme launched by the Maharashtra government, called Ladki Bahin, under which women will be given Rs 1,500 per month. Launched on the eve of the elections to the state, the notice raises issues of the scheme’s timing, the claim that Rs 1,500 given to women would be sufficient; how such doles create a dependency culture and how it effectively punctures the whole idea of a welfare state. (Read the full article here :https://www.newsclick.in/goodbye-welfare-state-welcome-labharthis)—————————-

Here is a Hindi version of this write-up :https://janchowk.com/pahlapanna/citizens-as-beneficiary-the-achievement-of-the-amrit-kaal-of-the-republic/