I wish to add to the concerns regarding subsidies expressed in the editorial "More subsidies", and Kanika Datta's column "Big bang insanity" (Swot, January 2). The equivalent of Gresham's law, bad money drives out the good, has always applied to economic policies, and nowhere is it more relevant than in the case of across-the-board subsidies. It is already rearing its head with the local Congress leaders asking for power subsidies in Maharashtra similar to those announced by the new Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. The burden of the new water and power sops in Delhi by the new government's own calculation is around Rs 960 crore for a full year. If every Indian were to be offered similar subsidies, the additional burden on this account alone would amount to a whopping 0.6 per cent of our current gross domestic product. Are the champions of the common people leading us to bigger bang insanities?
Shreekant Sambrani Vadodara
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