NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Wednesday expressed concern over political parties promising “freebies” and asked whether it was not “creating a class of parasites” instead of bringing people into the mainstream workforce who could contribute towards national development.
Hearing a PIL seeking its intervention to provide shelter to homeless urban people, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih said freebies discouraged people from working as they were getting free ration and money. The remark came a day after chief of construction giant L&T expressed worry over high attrition rate and getting people to move to places where projects are being executed.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, disagreed with SC and said there was hardly anyone in the country who would not work if they found employment. Justice Gavai replied, “You must be having only one-sided knowledge. I come from an agricultural family. Because of freebies in Maharashtra which they announced prior to elections, agriculturists are not getting labourers.”
Attorney general R Venkataramani said providing shelter to the homeless merited attention and told SC Centre was in the process of finalising the urban poverty alleviation mission which would address the problem.