Subsidies at not-so subsidised rates!
The idea behind a subsidy is to cater to the financially weaker sections of society. The point of this gets wholly lost when the supposed beneficiary has to pay a huge sum as bribe to avail its benefit or the middle man refuses to confer any subsidy to the beneficiary.
Take the instance of this agriculturist from Chapra in Bihar. He wrote to us that he had to pay a bribe of Rs.45,000 to procure his agricultural equipment which was supposed to be given to him at a subsidised rate. Not only was he deprived of the subsidy due to him, he also lost a huge sum of money in the process(http://ipaidabribe.com/bribe-central/bribe-paid-get-subsidy-agriculture).
In areas like Surat and Anand (in Gujarat) officials expect a bribe of Rs 50,000 to benefit from the subsidy.
These are really well-thought out government initiatives. The Union Budget has allocated Rs. 2,16,297 crores for subsidies. However, leakages taking place at various levels during distribution is a major cause for worry. In Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat, 18% of those below poverty-line receive 25% subsidy whereas 44% of the population across Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Preadesh get only 29% of the average subsidy.
By: Manishka Soorya