Freebies are doubly free.

"The Delhi government has scrapped its plans to procure two air-conditioned boats for VIPs and VVIPs at a cost of Rs 62 million and suspended two senior officials involved in the procurement, minister Parvesh Verma said." HT. The two boats were to be fully air-conditioned, with "a premium aesthetic look with concealed LED lights and ambient lighting", and "customized business class push-back VIP seats" "made of vegan leather with exquisite stitching". HT. It is good to know that our tax money was for "premium aesthetic look" of "vegan leather with exquisite stitching" and not for some proletariat eyesore. Members of Karnataka Legislative Assembly (MLAs) demanded free VIP tickets for Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches, with Congress MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar "asserting that legislators are 'VIPs' who cannot be expected to queue like ordinary citizens." So what if, "Eleven lives were lost during last year's RCB victory celebrations, and despite multiple inquiries, there has been no closure, no accountability, no punishment." DH. Karnataka state assembly has a total of 224 seats (prsindia.org) and the Karnataka State Cricket Association has promised to provide 2 free tickets to each member as well as "a separate stand in the stadium". News18. Tamil Nadu is to hold elections to its assembly on 23 April 2026 (wikipedia), and so "AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami promised to distribute free refrigerators for all rice ration card holders," double "the monthly cash distribution for women from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 and a one-time relief of Rs 10,000 to cushion the impact of rising prices." Free bus travel for men, same as women. TOI. Get elected by promising freebies and then use that for extorting free tickets for cricket matches. Costs nothing to the politician. So truly free. Meanwhile, "Over the past decade, a silent crisis has been unfolding in middle-class India." Because "borrowing has surged at an unprecedented rate," so that "Indians now carry one of the highest debt burdens in the world, excluding mortgages - surpassing even consumption-heavy economies like the US and debt-fuelled growth stories like China." "Today, non-housing household debt as a percentage of GDP stands at 32% in FY25," and "For borrowers caught in this cycle, the mathematics are brutal: Nearly 40% of annual income is now consumed by debt servicing alone." The Print. Citizens have to suffer in enforced silence because, "The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is now able to directly ensure takedown of news, analysis, comedy, satire or commentary (loosely dubbed as 'content') from the internet." !,11,185 items were blocked in 2024-25, at an average of 290 per day. The Wire. Free freebies as bribes for votes. Free freebies for politicians. No worries - it's doubly free. Citizens will be censored. At 290 per day.