Freebie Culture: 'There is a need to bring a white paper on Revadis', former RBI Governor gave this opinion to government

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao has said that the Modi government should bring a white paper to create a consensus among political parties on the issue of freebies. Subbarao said, there should be a deep debate on how to curb political parties in this regard. The public should be made more aware of the costs and benefits of these raves and it is the responsibility of the government to educate people about this.

He said, 'I think ultimately this is a political issue and there should be a political consensus on it. It will have to be led by the Central Government and the Prime Minister. I believe they should bring a white paper and try to build a consensus on it.

In a recent conversation with news agency PTI, Subbarao said, 'Educate people on the pros and cons of these raves and ensure how we can curb and enforce it.' The former RBI governor said. In a poor country like India, the government must provide some protection to the most vulnerable sections and to introspect as to what their scope can be given fiscal limitations.

“You have to question whether this is the best use of this money or can we do something better,” he said. That's why I think we should have a more informed and vigorous debate on the raves and also know how we can put some curbs on the political parties.

With some states crossing the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limits, he said the states and the central government should maintain fiscal discipline and adhere to the FRBM targets. Responding to a question, Subbarao said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had conducted a study according to which India would have to maintain a growth rate of 7.6 per cent continuously to become a developed nation by 2047.

He said that only a few countries have been able to do this, China has done this. But the most difficult point is whether we can do this with all the challenges like climate change, geopolitics, the difficulty of globalization, it is hard to say. Subbarao said that a developed nation has four pillars – rule of law, strong country, democratic accountability and institutions.

He said, 'We cannot say that we do not have them, nor can we say that we have them all. These are things we have to develop. Subbarao had earlier said that even after becoming the world's third-largest economy by 2029 as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision, India can still be called a poor country, hence there is no need to celebrate it.