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Full text: MK Stalin talks about 'freebie-driven' Dravidian

parties at India Today Conclave South 2017
Fellow Speakers, Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen,

I am happy to see you gathered here in our Capital City of Chennai for the most prestigious of
intellectual forums. At the outset, I must thank the Leadership team of India Today for choosing to
hold this forum here. We appreciate the recognition of Southern India in general and Tamil Nadu in
particular, which is not only known for its economic development over the past several decades but
also for the strong cultural history over several centuries since the Sangam period. I am also
hopeful that the intellectual nature of such forums will elevate the nature of political discourse in our
Region with time.

Today's topic of "development or dole" is an interesting one and I assume it was chosen based on
the media perception of the so called "Freebie-driven" policies of Dravidian parties that has
governed Tamil Nadu for over a half a century. I am grateful for this opportunity, as I get to explain
the unique approach to Development & Economic Growth followed by the Dravidian Movement. As
the movement's true heir and standard-bearer, the DMK is compelled to point out the vast
differences between our inclusive approach to growth, which we call Social Welfare Spending, but
has been so very unimaginatively called "dole" here is simple at best, and deliberately misleading at
worst, versus the disruptive policies that effect the economically weaker section & the common man
which are now termed "Development"
True Development must be measured with concrete indicators such as Per-Capita GDP and widely
used Human Development indicators such as, levels of Education, Health, and the prevalence of
Safety, Law & Order, and I hope we all agree on that. Using such standard definitions & concrete
statistics, we can clearly show that high levels of Social Welfare Spending are strongly correlated to
high levels of Economic development throughout the world - and therefore the presumed dichotomy
of the title given to me cannot be true.

At a global level, the Scandinavian Region leads in both Human and Economic Development on
one hand, and high levels of Social Spending on the other. When comparing States within a
Country, California, within the United States, proves the same point - as indeed Tamil Nadu within
our country. Considering a basket of measures of progress and development - Per-Capita GDP,
Broad Measures of Education & Health, Communal Harmony, and the Prevalence of Law and
Order, I am proud to say that Tamil Nadu has stayed far above the National Average for decades,
and in fact has been at the Top spot for most of the time.

It is, in this context, that I would like you to understand the unique socio-economic eco-system that
Tamil Nadu has been nurturing for decades, based on one of the fundamental policies of the
Dravidian Movement. We believe that no development is holistic unless all sections of the society
benefit from it, and hence all policies have been formulated to encompass Social, Economic &
Political development, which is also, what our constitution's preamble states.

I must say that the DMK has ruled this state for five terms all in keeping with those basic principles.
I use this opportunity to explain a few of the social welfare schemes brought out by the DMK, which
can be considered as a 'Model Governance'. For the purpose of this debate I am stating schemes
from the period 2006-2011.

- To abolish poverty, "One kilo of rice for One rupee" scheme was started and about 1 crore 85 lakh
families benefited from the scheme.

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- 22,40,739 poor farming families benefited from the weaver of Cooperative loan to the tune of Rs.
7,000 crore.

- 20,11,517 poor pregnant women were provided with the Financial assistance of Rs.6000/- each.

- Under Kalaignar Insurance Scheme, 2,70,265 poor people benefited from life-saving surgeries at
a cost of Rs.702 crore.

- During the same period, Investments on Tamil Nadu increased by about 3.5% which proves that,
welfare expenditure in a state will eventually drive capital investment as well.

- Tamil Nadu had investments of Rs.46,091 crore with employment opportunities created for more
than 7 lakh residents of Tamil Nadu including both government and Private enterprises.

- Linking of multiple rivers within the State at a cost of 558 crore including Cauvery - Gundaru,
Tamirabarani - Karumeniyaru - Nambiyaru to name a few.
- The Metro Rail in Chennai.

- Desalination of Sea Water plant at Minjur in North Chennai.

- The Hogenekkal Water Supply Scheme was commissioned for a total of 15 Water supply
schemes at a cost of Rs.1929 crore.

- Self Help Groups for women were introduced during our tenure to empower women financially and
in these five years, 4,41,311 groups were formed and loan assistance of Rs.6342 crore was
dispersed.

- To provide a world class library for students the Anna Centenary Memorial Library was built at
Kotturpuram at a cost of Rs.171 crore.

If these welfare schemes and projects were not fruitful, we would not have a global consulting firm
such as 'Oxford Analytica', declare Tamil Nadu as the most investor friendly state among all the 28
states in India at that time.

Confronted with such statistics, naysayers will inevitably raise the Chicken-or-Egg question: Does
Economic development enable high levels of Welfare spending, or do high levels of Welfare
spending drive Economic development? The answer, as in the case of most such questions is that
we need both the chicken and the egg, because together they allow for a virtuous cycle of
continuity, whereas any one on its own becomes a dead end. In the case of Social Spending and
Economic progress, the additional variable is that the extent to which one enables the other will
change over time, as a State's or Country's overall development advances.

We in the Dravidian Movement believe that the bedrock of development in any economy, whether
emerging or relatively advanced, is Social Equality and Communal Harmony. If these conditions are
not in place, Economic development cannot be inclusive, and consequently all efforts at
development, whether through welfare spending or otherwise - will face severe hurdles.

These truths were first established by the Justice Party, which is the grandfather of the Dravida
Munnettra Kazhagam which was founded by Arignar Anna and currently run by Thalaivar Kalaignar.

Over the 100 years since the birth of the Dravidian movement, successive generations have never
wavered in this commitment to Social Equality and Communal Harmony as they are essential
components of Natural Justice as well as the foundation for economic development. I fear that this
aspect is not clearly understood by many in the Media.

Does that imply that the DMK is for all "Freebies" or "Doles" without qualification? Absolutely not!

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We understand the difference between expenses & investment. But we also know that the
accounting categorization of Current Expenses vs. Capital Investment in the State budget is not the
best way to distinguish between the two. We would encourage a more nuanced analysis of so-
called "Freebies" to make a more sophisticated distinction between wasteful spending and
thoughtful investment.
I would like to share a few examples of thoughtful investment and the so called freebie schemes.

- MGR expanded the noon-meal scheme introduced by Kamaraj. Later, Kalaignar changed it as
nutritious meal scheme. Isn't that a thoughtful investment for a healthier and stronger future
generation?

- Old-age pension scheme has benefited lakhs of senior citizens from depending on their children
for food and shelter. Isn't providing food & shelter to senior citizens, a right that they have to expect
from their government?

- To provide access to information and knowledge, irrespective of literacy levels are distribution of
papers, the DMK distributed TVs to all houses and families. Isn't that a good investment?

We maintained transparency in all the schemes, including opposition party members in every
tender that was put up. If any investment that helps the growth of knowledge and done in a
transparent way we would consider that a reasonable investment.

I've already described also the successful public distribution system in Tamil Nadu. In fact the
Supreme Court said that Tamil Nadu's Public Distribution System (PDS) is a 'Model Scheme" for all
other states to follow.

In my view government has to be bold in taking decisions until growth schemes reach every man
even in the rural villages. So, governments have to strive for both "Business Growth" and
"Economic Growth". If you understand the difference in DMK's "freebies" from a basis of its social
and economic intentions, then we should never need to have such a discussion as this topic again.
Some "freebies" are clearly necessary for the nation's development. And DMK has always worked
for growth under the principles "Equality" and "Communal Harmony".

Before the 2016 Tamil Nadu Election, I toured all 234 constituencies to meet the public and
understand their needs. Under a journey called "Namakku Naame". During this journey I met
farmers, vendors, entrepreneurs, Working Labour, Youngsters, Students, and Women and
interacted personally with all of them. The DMK was then the first political party to prepare election
manifesto based on the expectations and reflections that I received from the public during this
journey.

This 2016 election manifesto with "Social Welfare Schemes, Infrastructure Projects and Overall
development in terms of Economic Growth was well appreciated by the people of Tamil Nadu. In
fact some of our opponents took this manifesto to the election commission claiming that we were
violating the norms declaring so called freebies. However, the election commission rejected the
plea as they form that we had enough resources in our enough plans to fulfil our obligations and
that the plans were realistic and the development oriented. Thus, our manifesto was even
recognized by the Election Commission.

Our schemes for growth are very clear. It is different from other parties and those who especially
claim to oppose "freebies" and speaking about pseudo growth. Right from the days of the Justice
Party, the Dravidian Movement's motto has always been:

- To give importance to education.

- To bring about balanced economic development through both public and private sectors.

- To strive to liberate the entrepreneurs to create value without government interference.

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- To provide quality government services in sufficient quantity to all citizens and make sure that the
government does not fail in its duty to provide a safety net to safeguard those who fall through the
cracks of economic development schemes.

I am not particularly qualified to comment on other peoples approach to development in general,

because the history of other parties does not provide the kind of track record that the Dravidian
Movement does, and frankly, because much of what they say perplexes me - and their actions don't
match their words. But I would be remiss if I did not use this opportunity to condemn in the
strongest words, the pain and havoc wrought on the nation, and particularly the poorest and
weakest sections of society, by the slow motion disaster that Demonetisation continues to be.

When the scheme was first announced, I was one of the first persons to welcome it with hopes that
it will put an end to corruption and black money. But after witnessing how the poor and rural people
continue to suffer due to an ill planned and ill conceived implementation I want to stand among the
first to condemn the move.
So I want to leave you with one thought today. If this kind of highly regressive policy reflects on the
approach of a so-called "Development-oriented" party, then, it won't help in any way for the
economical growth of a country.

Also Read: Demonetisation a 'slow disaster', says DMK's Stalin at India Today Conclave

DMK has always worked for growth within the principles of Equality, Inclusion and Communal
Harmony.

According to me, both corporate growth and common Man's development are important to a
government. If these two serve as two eyes then government's policies towards accelerating growth
serve as the third eye. If one wishes to call the people oriented welfare schemes of the Dravidian
Movements as "Freebies", even after hearing our clear explanation and seeing our results then we
are happy to wear that label with pride!

I thank you once again for this opportunity and take my leave.

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