The beginnings of a genuine welfare state?

It is up to our politicians to ensure that Kejriwal's largesse for Delhi doesn't result in institutionalising bribery

State and central elections have their different dynamics, but the outcome of the Delhi elections could still lay the seeds of an Indian welfare state such as Clement Attlee created in Britain on the basis of the report by the Liberal economist William Beveridge whose father was a rebellious 19th century Bengal civilian and mother a Calcutta educationist. On the other hand, it could also reinforce the system of bribery with voters expecting more and more gifts from the cornucopia of official largesse. 

Such allurements bring to mind a long-forgotten Bengali novel called Swarnalata by Taraknath Gangopadhyay, published in 1874, whose