This refers to Arvind Subramanian's article "The economic consequences of Professor Amartya Sen" (July 10). He wrote: "If the state's role is predominantly redistribution, the middle class will seek to exit from the state". This exactly reflected my thoughts - the state is there only to tax us. Our security is more dependent on luck rather than on the state apparatus. Owing to a lack of functioning public health and education systems, one has to be rely on costly private institutions.
Isn't it ironic that despite a plethora of schemes targeted at the poor, many Indians remain poor with infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and malnutrition worse than in Africa? One needs to ask whether these redistributive schemes have really helped the intended beneficiaries. Courtesy leakages, improper implementation and corruption these schemes help enrich public officials and politicians, leaving the poor as they were. This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for initiating more such schemes in the name of the poor. Unfortunately, this is an era in which administration, law & order maintenance, security provision have been replaced by overwhelming and ever-expanding populist redistributive schemes and taxing the middle class mercilessly.
Pradeep Kumar Mishra Jamshedpur
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