Why the poor in India have been called 'parasites'

Election sweeteners, deeply ingrained class bias fuel judgmental views of establishment

- Nirmala Ganapathy

NEW DELHI - Mr Amar Singh is hoping his wife will qualify for a monthly cash handout of 2,500 rupees (S$38) promised to women by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the latest Delhi elections in February.

"It would help us reduce our grocery bills. We spend 6,000 rupees every month," said Mr Singh, who earns anything between 10,000 and 15,000 rupees a month working as a painter earning from job to job. He is the sole breadwinner in the family.

Unable to pay even the lowest housing rent, his family of five lives under a flyover protected only by tarpaulin sheets. They depend on other welfare schemes, including government handouts of 20kg of free wheat and rice every month.

"Expenses are going up," he told me. "Everything is expensive in Delhi. A doctor's visit costs 500 rupees. The money will really help us."

For families like his which barely scrape by without financial assistance, even modest cash handouts can bridge the gap between hunger and sustenance.

The BJP government's grant would go some way in offering a sliver of stability for them and the city's homeless masses, as they live on the streets during the harsh winters and sweltering summers.

Yet for all the hardships they endure, the poor are sometimes painted as opportunists and freeloaders.

Recently, an Indian Supreme Court judge sparked a debate when he questioned in court whether state handouts are breeding a "class of parasites", in criticism of the rise of election sweeteners that political parties have dangled in front of voters.

In February, Mr S.N. Subrahmanyan, chairman and managing director of multibillion-dollar engineering firm Larsen & Toubro, wondered whether welfare schemes are making labourers less willing to relocate for work, resulting in a dearth of construction workers.