We need fiscal prudence during elections

Fiscal prudence never seems to take precedence during elections in India. Last week, this was demonstrated yet again in Tamil Nadu when Chief Minister M.K. Stalin surprised 1.31 crore women covered under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) — a universal basic income scheme for poor women — by transferring ₹5,000 to each of them.

The amount included ₹1,000 each for the months of February, March, and April, along with a ‘special summer assistance’ of ₹2,000. The ‘special summer assistance’, the first of its kind in the State, drew appreciation from the allies of the DMK and criticism from the Opposition. Mr. Stalin also said that in the event that his party retained power in the Assembly elections, likely to be held in April, the government would increase the monthly amount to ₹2,000.

At one stroke, the Tamil Nadu government incurred an expenditure of ₹6,550 crore. Mr. Stalin’s move comes at a time when the DMK has been accusing the Centre of being biased against Tamil Nadu in releasing funds. At a meeting in New Delhi last month, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu told the Centre that ₹3,548 crore due under the Samagra Shiksha scheme for 2024-25 and 2025-26 had not been released. He also expressed concern that rate rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax would lead to a revenue loss of ₹10,000 crore to the State this year.

The pre-poll bonanza is not new in Tamil Nadu or in other States. On this score, no party in India is different from the other. During the Interim Budget for 2019-20, the BJP-led Central government announced ₹6,000 a year to farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. The scheme has no link to the performance of agriculturists. It came into being in February 2019, just about two months before polling began for the Lok Sabha elections.

In June 2024, after securing only 17 out of 48 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, the Mahayuti government in the State rolled out a women-centric scheme. It was modelled along the lines of Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana, which played a major role in tilting the scales in favour of the BJP during the 2023 Assembly elections. Apart from announcing that it would increase assistance under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana eventually from ₹1,500 to ₹2,100, the Maharashtra government released two installments at one go before the State went to polls in November 2024. The Mahayuti won the elections.

Last year, before the Assembly elections in Bihar, the Prime Minister launched the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, an employment scheme. The government transferred ₹10,000 each to 75 lakh women. The NDA comprising the JD(U) and the BJP was given one more term.

In mid-January 2026, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami released the party’s first set of guarantees for the Assembly elections. He assured the electorate that the AIADMK, if elected to power, would expand the monthly assistance scheme for women. He promised to provide ₹2,000 per month to the woman head of every ration card-holding family.

In defence of his government’s latest move, Mr. Stalin contended that it had “thwarted the attempts of the BJP” to halt the distribution of monthly assistance under the KMUT scheme before the Assembly elections. Mr. Palaniswami accused the Chief Minister of suffering from the “fear” of losing elections after having made the State “insecure” for “girls, women, and senior citizens.” He has consistently alleged that the DMK regime broke its promise of universal coverage for the women’s cash assistance scheme.

The culture of freebies or ‘welfare schemes’ is deeply entrenched in the Indian political system. There seems to be no end to the launch of these schemes, whether in Tamil Nadu or other States. This is despite the fact that the efficacy of these schemes varies from one State to another, even in terms of electoral gains. What is required is not the proliferation of welfare schemes, but their efficient and targeted administration for a defined period. They cannot be entitlements without measurable outcomes or fiscal discipline. It would only be fair to expect Tamil Nadu — a State that has consistently been at the forefront of governance — to pave the way for a regime committed to this principle.