In the land of freebie culture where expecting,
demanding and getting freebies has become the right the of common man, this
auto driver stands out differently by offering to give a ride (to any place)
for one rupee on the day of swearing in ceremony of Jayalalithaa, as a token
gesture of gratitude for the one rupee idly offered by Amma canteens.
Amma canteen is not just a freebie but a welfare
idea which was introduced by Jayalalithaa to tide over the sudden spurt in the
prices of grains and eatables at that time. Though the Supreme Court had not
found fault with the freebie offer due to the welfare angle to it, in Tamilnadu
competitive politics has unnecessarily given a boost to it.
For example Kushboo did
not find anything wrong with the election manifesto of the DMK offering mobile
phone to everyone and did not doubt how much pressure it would put on the
coffers, but found fault with it when AIADMK repeated that in its poll manifesto.
She even hyped the debate by saying that
Jayalalithaa would cheat people by giving a low cost mobile! By instigating
like this, she does not bother about the increased burden on the Govt treasury but
wants to instigate the people to expect a costly mobile from the Government.
Instead of making the debate a worthy one by questioning this freebie or making
people be aware that Govt money need not go into this freebie, she is
instigating the people to demand a costly one.
Similarly during the Chennai
floods, what I could not understand was why the Govt should give
compensation for all the people for the flood. It was a natural calamity and
the Govt is entitled to provide alternate shelters for the affected people
besides strengthening the infrastructure to withstand future floods. The exemplary
salvaging measures of the Govt under Jayalalithaa, including seeking of help
from the auto majors to do a free service of the vehicles drowned in the flood
is of international standard.
But the DMK spread a campaign of turning a natural
calamity into a Jayalalithaa sponsored one in such a way that all and sundry started
expecting a compensation from the Govt. To blunt the opposition campaign she
had to offer Rs 5000 to everyone in the region that were flooded irrespective
of whether the damage was worth that or not for the beneficiary. At that time, Vijaykanth raised the pitch for a compensation of Re
10,000 saying that 5000 is not enough for the people.
These politicians will talk anything, it is after
all Jayalalaithaa’s headache – this is the tenor of this kind of competitive instigation
for freebie culture. But in the end many people from high rise apartments too
got the money though they did not have any impact of the flood in their
apartments.
Another issue that is currently doing rounds in the
Whatsapp is a campaign – presumably by the DMK people instigating people to ask
for monthly payment of electricity charges in addition to the 100-unit free
electricity announced yesterday by Jayalalithaa as per her poll manifesto.
Originally the freebie in electricity bill was offered by the DMK. When it was
in power it did not turn a stone to give electricity to the people. After
Jayalalithaa took over 5 years, she brought back the EB from the losses and
ensured uninterrupted electricity, the demand for which touched its peak as the
2nd highest in the country last month.
There is absolutely no need to offer a freebie in
electricity besides the existing ones to farmers and the textile industry. But
happy with the comfortable situation that Jayalalithaa had brought in the
Electricity Board, the DMK made an offer of changing the billing to monthly
basis in its manifesto. The first ill or evil will always come from the DMK.
And the people also started talking about it. That made Jayalalithaa to offer a
matching one to douse the DMK offer. She offered 100 units of free power to all
homes and signed on that order upon assuming office yesterday.
This means loss to the EB but lesser than what it
could do if the billing cycle is made monthly. Anyway billing rate in Tamilnadu
is less compared to many other States. (Check
here). EB needs more money to tide over ever increasing demands and for
installing new capacity. But all that is
not an issue for the politicians, particularly the DMK. They have started a
campaign since yesterday to demand monthly billing to get far better advantage
from the 100 unit free electricity. For them, it is Jayalalithaa’s headache and
therefore give her more headache and not bother about the economics behind such
demands.
In this backdrop, this man, Mr Mathivanan of Coimbatore, an ordinary person
leading a hand – to mouth existence from the income he gets by plying his auto,
stands tall. He may be a fan of Jayalalithaa or a worker of the AIADMK party but
it had occurred to him that he should do something to the people, to the society
on being inspired by the idea of offering cheap food in Amma canteen. Rather than expecting what you get from others
(here Govt), he has stood up to the idea of what he can do to others.
On the day of swearing in ceremony of Jayalalithaa, he
had taken 102 rides for one rupee rate in a span of 12 hours from 6 AM to 6PM without
any break even for taking his food. It is certainly doubtful that he could have
got 102 customers at other times. But if anything comes free, our people would
be too ready to make use of it. If someone tries to emulate him in some way,
that is the sign that our people are becoming better citizens.
I am happy that at least the Amma canteen concept
had kindled one person’s moral sense of taking something for such a low cost without
returning the same in some form.
*******
From
CHEAP RIDE HOME - Auto driver marks Amma's
victory by charging `1trip
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A Subburaj
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Coimbatore:
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They say fans come in all shapes and sizes, but it
is their commitment that truly defines their devotion. This
61-year-old auto driver's devotion to the AIADMK turned out to be a boon to
commuters looking to travel by auto.
To celebrate the swearing-in ceremony of AIADMK
supremo J Jayalalithaa, he offered to ferry passengers to their destination for
a token fare of `1. This was no small gesture, as he managed to service 102
passengers, all in a day's work, earning `102.
“I skipped breakfast and lunch. I took to the roads
at 6am and finished work at 6pm. I am an ardent fan of Jayalalithaa and I am
more than elated that she was sworn in as chief minister for the sixth time. I
decided to celebrate by victory by servicing passengers for a token fare,“ said
R M Mathivanan.
Mathivanan from Kaveri Nagar at SIHS Colony has been
a party member since 1975. “I have been working as an auto driver for the past
41 years in Coimbatore city. I have been a member since the time of MGR. I am a
great fan of our party chief Jayalalithaa. She has done so much good for the
people of Tamil Nadu. It's no surprise that the people have voted for her
again,“ he said.
As soon as Mathivanan heard that the AIADMK would be
forming the new government, he began distributing sweets to bus passengers at
SIHS colony.
“Our
leader provides idly for just Rs1 at the Amma canteens across the state.
Because of this, many poor people are able to eat breakfast. Since Amma has
helped so many people, I decided to do my bit. I am not doing this for publicity
. I earn `600 a day which is adequate to meet my
daily needs,“ he said.
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