HYDERABAD: The Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has submitted a representation to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, requesting pruning of expenditure on hyper populist welfare programmes. In its representation, the FGG pointed out that heavy borrowing to sustain the hyper populist welfare measures may cost the economy dearly and may lead to a disaster in the long run.
FGG secretary M Padmanabha Reddy said that many countries that followed the path of heavy populist social welfare policies had later found themselves in deep economic trouble. Implementing welfare schemes, anti-democratic governance, corruption, mismanagement of the economy, socialist, populist or hyper populist nature of the government policies to maintain political power are the causes of the collapse of the economy of the country, the FGG said.
Citing Venezuela, Greece and Sri Lanka as examples, Padmanabha Reddy mentioned that excessive welfare measures and poor policies of the government led to the collapse of the economy. This is despite the fact that Venezuela being one of the world's lea-ding exporters of oil, he said.
Greece which is a democratic, parliamentary republic and a developed country with an advanced high-income economy and a high-quality life landed into serious financial problems in the last 20 years for spending on welfare measures exorbitantly.
The recent crisis in Sri Lanka is a stark reminder of how mismanagement of the economy leads to serious conditions and unrest in the country, he said. The FGG requested the Chief Minister to stop borrowing to fund the hyper populist programmes and increase allocations to health, education and infrastructure development and manage the State economy systematically.