Last week, two gender-related announcements hogged media headlines — the Kejriwal government’s proposal to make bus and Delhi Metro commute free for all women and the Modi government’s announcement to give scholarships to a whopping five crore students from minority communities, reserving half for girls.

The latter will be implemented by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, set up in 1989 and fully funded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, to promote education among socially and economically backward minority communities, including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Parsis.

The free bus/metro ride proposal of the Delhi government has been criticised as yet another sop, this time for women. The critics got a shot in the arm with ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, the principal advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to nip this in the bud as it would set a bad precedent, with other metro networks across the country likely to face similar demands.

The freebie question

The common thinking is that freebies are bad economics. Period. And yet they are given in abundance by our politicians — subsidised/free rice, free TV sets, laptops, farm loan waivers, and more.

Strictly speaking, the midday meal scheme for children across India is also a freebie. But look at the colossal difference it has made to school enrolment and, more important, retention rates. Not to mention the invaluable improvement in the health of a whole generation of children, thanks to improved nutrition through a well-balanced meal.

To those who holler “gender bias” and why women should be given free bus/metro rides, the obvious response is that mobility is empowerment. While free transport will definitely improve women’s participation in the workforce, particularly in low-paying jobs, I would go to the extent of arguing that enabling a woman to merely leave the house itself is a sort of liberation. Who can deny that travelling outside the city or the country is a huge learning process?

The well-heeled may find this difficult to fathom, but in very poor and large families, girls/women do get left out of family outings where the cost of travel is a consideration.

And now, after Sreedharan’s negative vote, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has argued that as the Delhi government will pay the DMRC the cost of women’s free travel, it’s a “win-win” for Delhi Metro. He says that the Delhi Metro currently carries only 25 lakh passengers a day against a capacity of 40 lakh, so if there is a sizeable increase in the present 30 per cent women commuters, Delhi Metro will only benefit and manage to cut down its losses.

Yes, there is legitimate argument for the government not dishing out money for women who can afford to pay. The application of income thresholds in subsidies/freebies always make good economic sense, and the nitty-gritty to put that in place cannot be criticised.

Minority education

The response to the Centre’s announcement to give scholarships to five crore minority students, half of them girls, has been mixed. The sceptics say this is old wine in a new bottle, pointing out that scholarships for weaker sections in minority communities were initiated during the Vajpayee regime in 2003. And, even before that, some kind of stipends were available for poor minority students.

The other criticism, coming from some Sangh Parivar outfits, is that this is nothing but a return to “minority appeasement”.

For Modi himself, this announcement is a logical follow-up to his post polls victory speech where he had included the “ sabka vishwas ” mantra. Prominent Muslim leaders had also written to him that after the BJP’s massive election victory the Prime Minister should start “confidence building” measure with Muslims. So now, as announced by Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, these scholarships will be given to pre-matric, post-matric, and professional and technical course studies.

What is more welcome is that Naqvi also announced that Muslim girls will be given free coaching for UPSC, state services and banking services at Haj Houses. Muslim leaders are realising the importance of education and economic emancipation. Another welcome announcement is mainstreaming of Madrasas by ensuring that, apart from religious studies, the students learn math, science and other subjects.