Once upon a time, India dreamed of becoming a global superpower—a nation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and hardworking citizens propelling the country toward unprecedented prosperity. Today, that dream flickers dimly beneath the overwhelming shadow of what we’ve become: a nation increasingly addicted to handouts, where the word “free” elicits more excitement than “opportunity.” The freebie culture, once a political tool, has metastasized into a societal cancer—spreading silently, killing ambition cell by cell, until we find ourselves paralyzed by entitlement and dependency.
Let’s Start The Irony With The Deceptive Lure of Something For Nothing
Let’s be honest about what freebies really are: they’re not compassionate gestures from benevolent leaders. Freebies are calculated political investments designed to purchase loyalty at the ballot box. Free electricity, subsidized food, cash transfers for “existing”—these aren’t uplifting marginalized communities; they’re transforming citizens into dependents who view the government not as a service provider but as a benefactor whose generosity must be rewarded with votes.
The Supreme Court didn’t mince words when it warned that these handouts were creating “a class of parasites.” Strong language, certainly, but is it wrong? When 81 crore Indians—more than half the population—receive subsidized or free rations years after the peak of the pandemic, we’re not looking at temporary relief but at permanent dependency.
The Working Class, Who Are An Invisible, Collateral Damage in the Freebie War
We often frame the freebie debate around its impact on the poor, but this narrative obscures a more insidious reality. The working class—the very backbone of any functioning economy—is being silently pushed into an invisible pothole, as Bombay Shaving Company’s CEO Shantanu Deshpande bluntly observed.
“99% of Indians won’t show up to work if given sustenance money,” he claimed. While the percentage might be hyperbolic, the sentiment touches on an uncomfortable truth. When people receive money for doing nothing, the perceived value of work diminishes. This is something similar to what the apex court said. Why endure a commute, workplace politics, and daily stress when you can receive government checks for simply existing? Over time, this mindset infects not just those receiving benefits but those watching others receive them.
The working professional who sees their neighbor receiving the same standard of living without the early mornings and late nights begins to question their own choices. The entrepreneur contemplating a risky venture wonders why they should bother when the status quo offers guaranteed benefits. Slowly, inevitably, the culture of excellence gives way to a culture of adequacy—of doing the bare minimum required to get by.
A Financial Black Hole Devouring India’s Future
Freebies aren’t free—they’re merely costs hidden in different columns of the balance sheet. Look at Maharashtra, where subsidized travel for certain demographics has pushed the state transport corporation to the brink of collapse, bleeding ₹3 crore daily. When politicians like Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde insist these benefits will continue despite the financial carnage, they’re not displaying compassion; they’re showcasing mathematical illiteracy.
The “Ladki Bahin Yojana” promises women ₹1,500 monthly at an annual cost of ₹46,000 crore to the state. Meanwhile, contractors claim they’re owed ₹1 lakh crore—funds allegedly diverted to sustain this vote-winning scheme. The bitter irony? A program designed to empower women is funded by halting infrastructure projects that could create sustainable employment for those same women.
When governments prioritize handouts over investments in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, they’re effectively eating their seed corn—consuming today what should be planted for tomorrow’s harvest. International investors take note, directing their capital elsewhere, further limiting India’s growth potential. The demographic dividend we once celebrated risks becoming a demographic disaster as opportunities shrink while expectations grow.
From Citizens to Supplicants, It’s A Psychological Damage Everywhere.
Perhaps the most devastating aspect of the freebie culture isn’t economic but psychological. When citizens become habituated to receiving without giving, something fundamental shifts in the social contract. The relationship between citizen and state transforms from a partnership into a dependency—from adults collaborating to build a better nation to children expecting parents to provide.
This mindset seeps into workplace environments, where employees begin expecting rewards untethered from performance. It infiltrates educational institutions, where students expect degrees without mastering the corresponding knowledge. It corrupts the entrepreneurial ecosystem, where startups seek government subsidies rather than creating viable business models.
Over time, the very qualities that built civilizations—ingenuity, perseverance, delayed gratification—atrophy from disuse. We stop asking what we can do for our country and fixate exclusively on what our country can do for us.
The Electoral Addiction Where Politicians Pushing National Heroin
Let’s not pretend that politicians don’t understand the damage they’re causing. They do. But like drug dealers who know the devastating effects of their product, they calculate that the immediate high—electoral victory—justifies the long-term destruction. Political parties across the spectrum have transformed elections from debates about vision and governance into auctions of promises, each outbidding the other with increasingly lavish giveaways.
These aren’t policy solutions; they’re electoral tactics. They don’t create sustainable livelihoods; they create sustainable vote banks. They don’t empower communities; they pacify them. And in the long run, this approach doesn’t just damage India’s economy—it undermines its very soul.
The Generational Tragedy: Inherited Dependency
“The battles you refuse to fight your children will have to fight”.
Children learn what they live. When they grow up in households where government handouts replace earned income, they internalize a profoundly damaging lesson: that effort and outcome are unrelated. That the world owes them a living simply for existing. That ambition is unnecessary and risk-taking is foolish.
This mindset becomes a prison, confining generation after generation to a life of limited horizons and unfulfilled potential. The child who might have become a researcher finding cures, an entrepreneur creating jobs, or an artist inspiring millions instead becomes just another hand extended for the next government disbursement.
Finding a Way Forward: Breaking the Dependency Cycle
The solution isn’t eliminating support for the truly vulnerable but redesigning it to foster independence rather than dependency. Welfare programs should function as trampolines, not hammocks—providing the momentary lift needed to help people bounce back into productive lives, not comfortable resting places that encourage permanent disengagement.
This means tying benefits to responsibilities—whether educational requirements, community service, or job-seeking activities. It means creating time limits that prevent short-term assistance from becoming lifelong dependency. Most importantly, it means redirecting government spending from consumption to investment—from handouts that provide temporary relief to infrastructure, education, and healthcare that create permanent opportunity.
At The End: The True Cost of “Free”
“If Something Is Free, Then You Are The Product”
As India’s freebie culture continues its unchecked expansion, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: these supposedly benevolent policies are systematically undermining the very values and behaviors that build strong societies. They’re transforming citizens into supplicants, taxpayers into unwitting sponsors of political campaigns, and a once-ambitious nation into a collection of outstretched hands.
The damage to society extends far beyond government balance sheets. Freebies erode the work ethic that drives progress, foster resentment between producers and consumers of tax revenue, and create unsustainable expectations that no government can indefinitely fulfill. Most perniciously, they communicate that individual effort is optional—that one’s circumstances are primarily the government’s responsibility rather than one’s own.
Maharashtra’s fiscal nightmare serves as a canary in the coalmine for the rest of India. The bill for political freebies always comes due, and when it does, it’s ordinary citizens—not the politicians who made the promises—who pay the price through inflation, reduced services, or crushing debt passed to future generations.
If we truly care about building a resilient, self-sufficient society, we must recognize that the most valuable thing any government can provide isn’t a handout but the conditions under which citizens can stand proudly on their own two feet. The time has come to reject the false compassion of freebies and embrace the true empowerment that comes from creating opportunities for citizens to earn their own success. 
The question facing India isn’t whether we can afford more freebies—it’s whether we can afford the society these freebies are creating. And increasingly, the answer appears to be a resounding no.
