FREEBIES DEVOUR FORESTS

A democracy that is cutting down forests for votes risks mortgaging its ecological future for an electoral present

- Ajit Ranade

There are moments in public life when a single news item captures the moral and fiscal drift of an entire political system.

Last week, Maharashtra’s forest minister reportedly said that teak plantations worth ₹12,000 crore may be monetised, including felling mature teak trees, to help raise funds and repay loans, partly necessitated by the mounting fiscal burden of welfare commitments such as the Ladki Bahin scheme. The annual outgo of that scheme alone is estimated between ₹36,000 and ₹46,000 crore, which is over 5% of the state’s total expenditure.

For a moment, we may pause and reflect on the symbolism. Forests are not surplus inventory. They are ecological assets meant for future generations. They are carbon sinks in a climate-stressed world. They regulate water cycles, protect biodiversity and serve as natural insurance against environmental collapse. To cut them down in order to finance annual revenue expenditure, that too recurring cash transfers, is not merely a budgetary decision. It is intergenerational liquidation. If trees are felled this year to fund this year’s freebie burden, what will be cut next year? Even if the teak plantation stock is being marketed as a “departmental asset,” the political symbolism is unavoidable: the state is contemplating drawing down long-lived environmenial capital to service recurring revenue commitments.

This is not an isolated case. Across India, competitive populism has acquired a new velocity. It has been enabled by technology. The JAM trinity — Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile connectivity — has made direct benefit transfers seamless. More than 500 million no-frills bank accounts, Aadhaar-linked targeting, and instant transfers have allowed governments to move from distributing goods to transferring cash directly into bank accounts.