Take cash, forget social change

The stunning wins of the Mahayuti and the Jharkhand Mukti Morchaled alliance demonstrate that direct cash transfer to voters can negate the antiincumbency factor against parties in power It facilitates ideological consolidation and enables political parties to mobilise voters more effectively Yet at the same time direct cash transfer reflects the Statersquos disinterest in bringing about social changeDirect cash transfer appears to be particularly effective when its target group comprises women In Maharashtra the Mahayuti after suffering a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections introduced the Ladki Bahin Yojana which pays R1500 a month to women between 21 and 65 years in age and living below the poverty line Likewise in Jharkhand the JMM government implemented in August the Maiya Samman Yojana which transfers R1000 a month to poor women aged 21 to 50In both these states women turned out in exceptionally large numbers to vote for their benefactors heralding the emergence of women as an influential vote bankmdashand as gamechanger In Maharashtra the female voter turnout in the 2024 Assembly elections increased by nearly four per cent over 2019 In Jharkhand around five lakh more women than men turned out to vote in the Assembly electionsThe defining characteristic of the two schemes is that they lay no demand on the beneficiaries They do not have to undertake any economic activity to receive the moneymdashas for instance is required under the rural employment guarantee programmes They do not have to even stir out of their house as is necessary for women in Karnataka and Delhi to avail of free bus ridesIn both Maharashtra and Jharkhand the ruling alliances resorted to direct cash transfer to women four to five months before the elections Since the handouts impose no conditions on the beneficiaries the schemes mimic albeit for a longer duration the practice of candidates seeking to buy votes by distributing cash in slums the night before polling Such candidates hope the beneficiaries of their largesse will vote for themThis too is the logic underlying the Ladki Bahin Yojana and Maiya Samman Yojana Indeed the purchasing of votes has been legitimised and mainstreamed through direct cash transferThis method is decidedly more effective than individual candidates distributing money The latter is a onetime affair In contrast once people enjoy the monetary benefits showered on them by a ruling party they subliminally fear its discontinuance unless the benefactor is returned to power The high female turnout in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand reflects both their gratefulness to the ruling parties and their apprehensionPaltry as they may appear R1500 or R1000 do boost the income of women engaged in poorly paid menial jobs Since the money is transferred to the bank accounts of women they acquire agencymdashand possibly encourages them to resist patriarchyYet by transferring cash to voters governments implicitly confess that they do not have the intent to bring about major structural changes in the economy and create conditions to usher in social mobility for the teeming millions Cash transfers dissipate economic discontent and the popular rage as seems to have happened in Maharashtra which faces an agrarian crisisIndeed cash transfer schemes come with a coded message Take money forget social changeCash transfer has unlike reservation crosscommunity appeal thereby turning it into an effective tool for mobilisation The Marathas were alienated from the Mahayuti as its government refused to provide them a reservation quota within the Other Backward Classes category It was one reason why the Marathas consolidated behind the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections The Mahayutirsquos mammoth scale of victory in the Assembly elections suggests the Ladki Bahin Yojana weaned away the Maratha in substantial numbers from the MVAIn Jharkhand the JMMCongress alliance in June won just five of the 14 Lok Sabha seats The five wins were ascribed to the Adivasis consolidating behind them The alliancersquos extraordinary sweep of the state in the Assembly testifies that the Maiya Samman Yojana enticed a large segment of the Bharatiya Janata Partyrsquos supporters to switch their allegianceCash transfer also provides an irresistible sheen to the ideologies of political parties For instance in Maharashtra Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the cry of ldquoHum ek rahenge toh safe rahengemdashunited we will be saferdquo He was telling Hindus that the Oppositionrsquos promise of a caste census would divide and weaken them thus rendering them susceptible to alleged Muslim machinations But ideological appeal was also deepened by cash for they were being told that they will be safe under the Mahayuti as well as get R1500 a month A reworking of the marketing strategy of buy one get one freeSimilar was the case in Jharkhand where the JMM countered Hindutva through the slogan ldquoJungle Jal and Jaminrdquo which was coined over 100 years ago The slogan articulated the JMMrsquos promise of protecting the community from the appropriation of their jungle water and land by big business The promise acquired greater attractiveness as it had the shiny wrapping of the Maiya Samman Yojana Political parties do play these games but ultimately it is the people who barter shortterm gains for a systemic changeThe writer is a senior journalist and author of Bhima Koregaon Challenging CasteSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper