For the sake of argument

During the lunch, we came across a topic on the "freebies" given by the TN government. One person commented that, there is nothing is feel good about this because the money spent on the freebies are the money collected rather sucked from those who are employed in public and private sectors and whose income tax gets deducted at source.

My perception of this is, if it is not for the freebie, that money would also have gone missing under some un-implemented plan. Someone said that instead of spending money in the freebies, that money could be used for some infrastructure development. I agreed to that idea, but said that when the politicians are playing cheap politics to keep the citizens under dark ... who is to stand up and convey this alternate implementation plan to the government? The immediate response to this was that, don't they know that we don't have proper infrastructure.

I felt this topic is just for the argument sake. Every statement made is subjective and it is not proper to make a decision here. For example, if every thing had functioned [like the statement - don't they know that we don't have proper infrastructure] the way it should have functioned, then we must be living in a heavenly place. again, too cryptic statement, isn't it?

The government announced Rs. 2,000/- as flood relief for the calamity due to recent Cyclone Nisha. My place [AVADI - TNHB] was also a much impacted area. On that thursday night [28 Nov] my parents never slept and kept a watch on the rising water level ... but, without any rationale, the municipality announced that the residents are eligible for only Rs. 1,000/-

On the first day, some of the residents stood together and questioned the councilor for a reason to give only Rs. 1,000/- when the government announced Rs. 2,000/-. However, there were few residents who went ahead to collect the amount disbursed by the local body. Since one part of the residents have already collected the money, the other half [who protested and demanded a reason] also felt that their Rs.1,000/- may also be lost if they don't collect it. So, they comprimised themselves and collected the said amount.

Ironically, some of those people went straight to the TASMAC shop and also commented that they are returning back the money given by the government to the government.

...bright