Welfare State's money put to good use

Scholarship for meritorious students is Shivraj Govt's best scheme after Ladli Laxmi

NK SINGH

A decade after Madhya Pradesh launched its flagship Ladli Laxmi scheme, something good and noble has come out of Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government’s stable. The Rs 100 crore scholarship scheme for meritorious students, called Mukhyamantri Medhavi Vidyarthi Yojna (MMVY), puts welfare state’s money to good use.

The new scheme’s beauty lies in its simplicity. The Government will fund higher education, including technical and medical education, of meritorious students, irrespective of their caste, creed or gender. Every student scoring good marks in higher secondary examination qualifies for it. Only condition is a ceiling of Rs 6 lakh fixed on family income so that rich don’t benefit from scholarship.

It is a well recognised fact that education is the best possible investment in a welfare state’s arsenal to fight poverty. Ladli Laxmi scheme brought a paradigm shift in society’s perception about girl child by promising Rs 1.18 lakh on her attaining adulthood. Similarly, scholarship to meritorious students will facilitate access of lower middle class and working class to higher education and, ultimately, a better life.

MMVY is beautiful because, just like Ladli Laxmi, it provides for direct cash transfer to beneficiaries. Transfer of money directly to beneficiaries is an established method of plugging revenue leakage that plagues most of our welfare schemes for poor, such as subsidised or free rations.

MMVY promises to pay college fee of every student securing 85 percent marks in higher secondary in CBSE and 75 percent in MP board. It includes professional education. The government promises to pay the fee of those who secure admission to medical colleges through NEET as well as those getting into law institutions through CLAT.

The scheme promises to pay tuition fee of upto Rs 1.50 lakh a year of students qualifying in JEE. The government will pay the fee of even those students who study in any college run by central or state government in Madhya Pradesh.

The scheme has come as a wisp of fresh air in a puerile atmosphere. The citizens of MP had become used to half-baked, ill-conceived welfare schemes like onion purchase, bhavantar scheme and crop insurance. All these schemes were, interestingly, aimed at providing relief to farmers through state intervention in market economy. And each of them failed in its singular objective, even as they drained the exchequer of thousands of crores.

The onion purchase scheme was the most hair brained of all. The government purchased onion from farmers at the rate of Rs eight a kg, allowed it to rot due to improper storage, threw away most of it and sold the remaining at an average price of Rs two, suffering a loss of about Rs 800 crore. Traders made a killing, selling the onion at Rs 40 a kg, an unbelievable profit of twenty time compared to purchase price. The scheme eventually helped neither consumers nor farmers.

Bhavantar turned out to be an equally ill conceived scheme. It was supposed to help farmers by bridging the gap between market price and support price of crops. But Government had not reckoned on traders forming cartels and shortchanging farmers by paying less than the average market price. In this case too the beneficiaries of government largesse are traders. The sufferers are consumers and farmers --- despite thousands of crores being siphoned off exchequer.

The much touted crop insurance scheme cost the tax payers more than Rs 2,000 crore.Most farmers received pittance as compensation for crop losses – amounts ranging between Rs 2 to Rs 80. Insurance companies earned a profit of nearly Rs 1,200 crore.

In sharp contrast, schemes like Ladli Laxmi and MMVY leave no scope for revenue leakage. It covers admission to both government and private institutions. Every paisa spent goes directly to intended beneficiary.

However, in the first year of introduction, the scholarship scheme is facing teething trouble. Media reports suggest that of the 24,000 applicants, hundreds have failed to receive college fee so far, putting them to financial difficulty. Almost 1,500 cases are pending with sanctioning authority. Chief Minister Chouhan has already expressed his concern over the pendency and instructed concerned officials to take immediate corrective action.

The situation is alarming. The process is fully online. If there is still pendency it means either of two things – inefficiency of official machinery or corruption at clerical level. Such delay may ruin not only a noble scheme but also many a career. The officials must intervene immediately and punish those responsible for the delay. Any lackadaisical attitude will ring the death bell of one of the best schemes of Shivraj government. For, MMVY’s success depends on its flawless execution.

Powers That Be, my column in DB Post of Nov 20, 2017

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