What's in a name? Lots, it seems.

"Does calling a road an 'expressway' or 'freeway' contribute to more accidents on that road? Does a programme having the prefix 'Pradhan Mantri', or a leader's name, impact citizens' behaviour towards the programme?" asked B Dominic. Why should a name matter? "That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet," wrote Shakespeare. But, "In our study of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), it was found that programmes that have tags like Pradhan Mantri, or names of national leaders, are seen as conduits through which citizens will receive goodies from the government. These are never seen as programmes where the citizens are expected to contribute." That is because this government has started 18 different social schemes to distribute subsidies, in addition to the ones already in place before it came to power. Thus the sounds 'Pradhan Mantri', meaning 'prime minister', excites a kind of Pavlovian Reflex in those who are conditioned to receive handouts, like the sound of a bell would excite increased salivation in a dog who associates the sound with food. "The human brain must think with the aid of categories. Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgement," wrote social psychologist, Gordon Allport. So the word 'highway' with its "multiple lanes, access-controlled environment where there are no distractions -- surely activates a mental model of a risk-free road meant for speeding". The word 'expressway' even more so. However, when Pradhan Mantri is associated with an expressway then it means a free-for-all. Thus the Prime Minister inaugurated the Eastern Peripheral Expressway at the end of May and by middle of June solar panels, batteries, iron fencing and fountains worth tens of millions of rupees had been stolen. They must have thought it is an express handout, poor fellows. The government raises hundreds of billions in taxes by specific names, such as 'education cess', R&D cess, and others which are then diverted to useless expenditure. Cess was raised in this year's budget Thus,  the government earns hundreds of billions of rupees from taxes on fuel but calls it subsidies. The Rent Control Act is meant to protect the poor form extortion by landlords but has become a means to permanently squat on a property and pay very little. The Right to Education Act was an effort to force the middle class to pay for educating children from poor families. It backfired spectacularly because state governments are having to pay for these students as well as salaries of teachers in government schools. Now the Karnataka government has ordered teachers to bring students to schools, or else. We Indians are conditioned by names.