When I was in school my good
teachers taught me a lot of grammar , some of which I could learn and retain.
One of things I recall having learnt was the oxymoron. We had various examples
of it also.
But never knew that sometime so
much later, we would have a new example to contend with. And a real life
example at that !
As per the dictionary meaning of
Subsidy is “A benefit given by the government
to groups or individuals usually in the form of a cash payment or tax
reduction. The subsidy is usually given to remove some type of burden and is often considered
to be in the interest of the public”
Another
term we have is VIP. Although not a word to the true sense of the word, it
means “A person of great importance or influence, especially
a dignitary who commands special treatment “
Now the question comes – can a
person who demands treatment and enjoys privilege as a VIP (the stress here is
on the word “demand”) can also qualify for a subsidy ? And is that in the
interest of the public ?
Our parliamentarians declare
their assets before elections which for most run into such astronomical numbers
that you sometimes misinterpret it as turnover of a company or business. Once
they become parliamentarians they become VIP, throw their weight around
(sometimes both figuratively and literally ) and demand privileges which are
not for the common man. And then they have subsidy for their meals ! The subsidy
bleeds the exchequer by Rs.60 Crores a year !
In a country where millions do
not have enough to feed their families, where babies die out of malnourishment,
where families lose their loved ones as they do not have enough to pay for
medicine, where death is sometimes welcomed to get rid of this life of penury
for some ! In the same country, we have people coming in BMW, Toyota Fortuner
and eat meals at this kind of subsidized prices.
VIP Subsidy- the new oxymoron ? The ultimate moron becomes the tax payers !
Definitely maybe !
