In an apparent dig at the political parties for promising “freebies” before elections, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that instead of bringing people into the mainstream for national development, “are we not creating a class of parasites?”
Photo: Supreme Court of India
In an apparent dig at the political parties for promising “freebies” before elections, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that instead of bringing people into the mainstream for national development, “are we not creating a class of parasites?”
The stinging observation on the freebies creating a new class of parasites came from a bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih, who stated it would be better to make people a part of the society’s mainstream and contribute towards national development.
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“Rather than promoting them to be a part of the mainstream of the society by contributing to the development of the nation, are we not creating a class of parasites?”, the bench asked, as Justice Gavai observed, “Unfortunately, just because of these freebies, people are not willing to work as welfare schemes like like ‘Ladli Bahin’ are announced on the anvil of elections.”
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The observation from the bench came during the hearing of a matter relating to the rights to shelter for homeless people in urban areas.
As advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for a petitioner, said that there was hardly anybody in the country who did not want to work if they had work, Justice Gavai remarked, “You must be having only one-sided knowledge. I come from an agricultural family. Because of freebies in Maharashtra, which are announced just before elections, agriculturists are not getting labourers.”
Refusing to enter into a debate on the issue, the court said that even Attorney General R Venkataramani feels that providing shelter to the homeless requires consideration.
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