There is a famous George Bernard Shaw quote. “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” The problem is that Paul is the present generation. And given opportunity costs of resources, Peter is the future generation. There are two reasons why this is especially dangerous. First, once introduced, such schemes (like MGNREGS, Direct Cash Transfers, etc.) can never be rolled back easily. Second, the scheme (direct cash transfers) is based on an apparently sensible idea and these are always more problematic.......Read More