A red herring.

"The Center...asked the Supreme Court to lay down guidelines to regulate the freebies announced by the political parties to win over the voters, till the legislative measures are taken in." DH. "According to a written response by the petitioner, RBI data showed total outstanding liabilities of the States as on March 31, 2021 is a staggering amount of Rs 59,89,360 crores (Rs 59.89 trillion)." "The Supreme Court...said that it cannot prevent political parties from making promises during the election campaigns but the question is what constitutes right promises and what is the right way of spending public money." TOI. "AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) had filed an application stating that electoral promises such as free water, free electricity and free transport are not 'freebies' but these schemes are absolutely essential in an unequal society." AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said "there is something wrong with the Centre's finances the way it is 'strongly opposing' free facilities for people." TOI. "Earlier, the central government used to pay 42% of the tax collected from across the country to the states, but it has now been reduced to 29-30%. Also central government is saying that it has no money to pay 100 days wages to the poor under MGNREGA, and has cut its budget by 25%," he said. 'Freebie' has a pejorative connotation but is difficult to distinguish from welfare measures, wrote Gautam Bhatia. "A (election) manifesto may contain promises that some might believe are economically unwise or unnecessary, but a judgement of the wisdom of future economic policy - at the end of the day - must rest with voters at the ballot box and not with the courts or other bodies." So, "when it comes to the integrity of the electoral process, there are far more urgent cases awaiting the SC's attention, such as the legality of electoral bonds, which allow for unlimited, secret corporate funding to political parties." That case is pending because, "The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019-20 got over 75% of the electoral bonds sold while the Congress managed just 9% of the total of Rs 3,435 collected, according to Election Commission of India (ECI) data." HT. 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi was carping in his criticism of his political opponents who, he felt, were promising freebies in exchange for votes." DH. "Most such schemes have been linked to the office of the Prime Minister, who is arguably the biggest mass leader this country has seen after Indira Gandhi. The Opposition realises that it must come up with an additional welfare portfolio of its own if it has to survive the political offensive of the BJP." In reply to Modi, Kejriwal said, "When you provide undue benefits to some corporates, provide thousands of crores in loans of your friends, or use a foreign trip to settle contracts for them with foreign governments, then it is 'revadi' (a sweet made from sesame seeds)." "Child labor, caste-based discrimination and poverty are closely related to India," according to the United Nations. Shouldn't Modi be emphasizing these social cancers instead of criticising freebies? Truth won't win elections. A red herring might.