Political parties creating 'cradle-to-grave' welfare state by offering freebies: Varun Gandhi

BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Wednesday said political parties have encouraged an entitlement mentality and created a cradletograve welfare state by offering freebiesGandhi who has been voicing concern about various governance issues said there is a need to have a conversation about widespread abuse of public funds by offering freebiesMaking such promises is an insult to voters when many such promises are simply left unfulfilled or partially so Gandhi told PTI while talking about his latest book The Indian Metropolis which discusses challenges that Indian cities faceAll political parties offer freebies now and through it an entitlement mentality has been encouraged creating a cradletograve welfare state he saidHowever he added that not every scheme or manifesto promise is a freebie free food at schools for students as offered under the MidDay Meal scheme should not be classified as a freebie given that it helps improve the health of our childrenHe further said reforming this mind set up of freebies will require initiatives on multiple tracksAlso Read Varun Gandhi stresses the need of sustainable urban development in his new bookGovernments whether state or Centre announcing freebies should be required to providing a funding plan to bolster Parliament and state assembly budgetary understanding and enhance their ability to act a Budgetary Office should be established to aid in writing policies and conducting budgetary analysis Gandhi a threetime from Uttar Pradesh suggestedTalking about his book which discusses challenges in front of urban cities Gandhi said Indias cities have notably failed to consider the need for numerous urban green spaces in their master plansAt the government level we face a significant poverty of understanding about the value of forests and green zones in our cities and their intangible benefits Gandhi saidTo buttress his point he cited the example of Mumbai and said the citys development plans in 1964 and 1991 sought to plan out land use for a period of 20 years but essentially resulted in a dilution of green spacesAnd now every year some of Mumbais priciest real estate sinks under the deluge of monsoon rain he addedIndia needs to rethink how it manages its cities with a push for making our urbanisation process better for the planet he said while referring to the Singapore example where liveability and sustainability are given due importanceGandhi has been taking an independent stand from his party on various issues such as farm laws unemployment and other governance related issues for the past some time He has written four books so far with Indian Metropolis his latest oneThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever