Kerala floods show the perils of spending more on handouts than on infra

Bold handouts may please the voters, but if the cost is measured in lives, it's time for a rethink

The worst flooding in more than a century has left hundreds dead, hundreds of thousands homeless, billions of dollars of losses and the lingering risk of disease in Kerala, southern India. Blame the monsoon, or rickety infrastructure?

Pinning down the cause of the disaster is important in assessing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's spending priorities as he heads into an election year. India's budget certainly needs an overhaul.

While the Kerala downpours were unusually heavy, most of the damage was done after the sluice gates of brimming dams were opened to release water into parts of the southwestern coast that were