On Mercury Sunday 1876, F. Harvey Smith wrote: ‘Go. He said this strictly. We call it the confrontation, the Mexican confrontation. In this you can lose your money, but your life is saved.
The Mexican confrontation is actually a phrase. It means: when many parties, people or organizations are trapped in a situation that no one wants, but no one wants to take a step back from that situation. There is no winner in this and the anger continues to rise. Both the Maharashtra-Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi alliances are caught in a similar situation.
On Wednesday, Maha Vikas Aghadi promised that if he comes to power, women will be given an allowance of Rs 3,000 a month. A day earlier, Mahayuti had promised to give Rs 2,100 every month to the women.
The Mahayuti alliance government had started Ladki Bahin Yojana in the 2024-25 budget, under which 2.5 million women in the state receive Rs 1,500 every month. Most of the beneficiaries of this plan received the money until November. This plan is expected to impose a burden of Rs 46,000 crore on the public exchequer.
The government had announced another plan in the 2024-25 budget. Now the government will bear all the expenses of higher education of girls from economically backward families and OBCs earning less than Rs 8 lakh a year.
Through Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana, 52 lakh families get three free gas cylinders every year. Through Mukhyamantri Baliraja Vij Sawalaat Yojana, 44 lakh farmers using pumps with a capacity of less than 7.5 horsepower are getting free electricity. Apart from this, a plan to offer free pilgrimages to senior citizens is also implemented here. 94,889 crore will be spent on these schemes. Of this, the state government will spend Rs 75,039 crore and the remaining money will come from the Centre.
In 2024-25, the state government will earn Rs 5.19 lakh revenue. While the government’s revenue deficit will be Rs 20,051 crore. Now, due to these plans, the revenue shortfall has reached Rs 95.09 billion. This is 2.2 percent of the state’s GDP. Income shortfalls are not considered good for economic health.
The state’s Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill states that the revenue deficit must be reduced to zero, as this forces the government to borrow for its daily operations and does not create any capital assets. But these plans do not stop for political reasons and become a burden for the State.
Currently, the Maharashtra government spends 31 per cent of its revenue on salaries, 11.5 per cent on pensions and 11 per cent on interest payments. 14 percent will be spent on these plans. This means that 66 percent of government spending will go to areas it cannot reduce.
Now Maha Vikas Aghadi has promised that if he comes to power, he will help women with Rs 3,000 a month through the Grihalakshmi scheme. It is estimated that Rs 96,000 crore will be spent on this. Apart from this, Maha Vikas Aghadi has promised that if he comes to power, unemployed youth will be given Rs 4,000 per month, women will be allowed to travel in buses for free, medical cover worth Rs 25 lakh and loans will be given to farmers. up to Rs 3 lakh. resigned. The terms and conditions of these plans are not yet clear, making it difficult to estimate their spending. However, it is estimated that Rs 60,000 crore will be spent at the same time on loan waiver to farmers.
The annual burden on the government exchequer due to these election festivals is expected to increase by Rs 1.25 lakh crore. Because of this, the government may have to borrow even for salaries and development plans in the future. The government’s borrowing capacity may also be affected.
Not only this, due to the increasing financial burden, it may also become difficult for the government to make new hires. There are 2.44 lakh vacant posts in different departments and local bodies. There are 46,000 vacant positions in the Ministry of the Interior. More than 23 thousand positions are vacant in the health department. Because of this, people may face difficulties in providing basic services. For example, in 2022, there were 182 police officers for every lakh population in Maharashtra. While, according to the United Nations scale, there should be 222 police officers for this population. This creates difficulties in registering the case and also affects the investigation.
Likewise, 4,644 Talathis posts in the Revenue Department are vacant. Talathi keeps accounts of crops and land in the villages. Furthermore, the number of anganwadi workers in the state is 1,08,507, i.e. 8.5 workers per 10,000 people. While in Kerala this figure is 9.2 and in Karnataka it is 9.33.
There is a huge problem of malnutrition among children in Maharashtra. To address this issue, more ASHA workers are needed at the grassroots level. By 2022, the number of Asha workers per 10,000 people in Maharashtra was 5.5. While in Bihar this figure was 7.16 and in Madhya Pradesh it was 8.81.
Due to the distribution of electoral money, the government may face difficulties in covering these contracts in the future. This will not meet the daily needs of the people and will increase discontent among them despite getting free facilities.
Giving three thousand rupees to women does not mean that the government will ignore surveillance and healthcare. But promoting health, education and infrastructure can generate long-term electoral benefits. Politicians also know this, but due to the “Mexican confrontation” they can no longer contain themselves.