MPLAD & family plots

Like Indian business, Indian politics is a hereditary business in which politicians literally inherit a parliamentary seat once occupied by a relative (usually a father). But inheritance often does not mean continuity. As a senior officer from the department of programme implementation said, inheritor MPs are often unwilling to continue projects started by their fathers under the MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) scheme. Instead, they want to establish their own legacy. This is particularly true in the case of a prominent politician from Haryana, who has repeatedly approached the department, which is responsible for monitoring MPLAD schemes, to scrap projects his father started and introduce fresh schemes. As the official explained, the rules do not permit such mid-course changes so the fate of those projects in Haryana hang perilously in the balance.