MK Stalin defends freebies culture in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Strongly defending the freebies culture in Tamil Nadu, DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Tuesday said social welfare schemes are the hallmark of the Dravidian parties which brought economic growth through such measures.

Speaking at a media conclave on the the topic 'Freebies or growth', Stalin cited the noonmeal scheme as an example for developing the health of the future generations who would contribute to economic growth.

Choosing such a topic is the result of a wrong campaign against the social welfare schemes, he said and asserted that growth should be inclusive indicating the human development index in health and education. In all developed countries, social welfare schemes had resulted in their economic growth, Stalin said.

“Where there is high spending for social welfare schemes, there is economic growth", he said and cited the example of Scandinavian countries. Even within the Untied States, the state of California, which spends the highest on social welfare schemes had shown more economic development.

One of the main objectives of the Dravidian movement is the creation of a society without social and economic disparities. When all the sections of the society did not benefit from a development scheme, the growth would not be total, he asserted.

Listing the welfare schemes introduced by the DMK government, Stalin said the state was one of the favourable destinations for setting up industries.

The economic growth attained by the DMK government is being concealed under the criticism against the social welfare schemes, which are termed freebies, he commented.

Both social welfare schemes and economic growth are required for the well being of a country, he said and added that the Dravidian movement considered equality and social harmony as the key aspects for economic growth. Without maintaining equality and social harmony, whatever money spent on economic growth would be useless, he opined.

Pointing out that the DMK is an offshoot of Justice Party which stressed on equality and social harmony, Stalin said lack of basic understanding of the movement's principle had led to such debates against social welfare schemes, he noted.