Want rights? Repeal laws

By Deeksha Gehlot

India’s obsession with passing new laws to get rights really annoys me. Is it really tough to understand that we as humans already have rights? We don’t need state’s approval to have food or education. We don’t need a new law to practice our rights as long as we’re not hurting some other person’s rights. If I want to get educated or get food without hurting some other person’s rights, I can just go ahead and do it! Every time a new law is enacted, it is projected as if it is giving Indians some new “right to food” or “right to education” or “right to sell stuff on streets”. However, in reality it only takes away the rights of others in some manner. Let me discuss two recent laws which annoy me the most.

1. “Right to Food Act”

Really? Do you see the name used to popularize the act among people? It is actually named “National Food Security Act, 2013”. In reality, neither does this bill give you a “right to food” nor does it “secure food for the nation”.  If we read the bill we will see clearly that it subsidizes food for 75% of rural and 50% of urban population. Who comprises that is left for the government to decide. Nevertheless, let us remind ourselves that government does not have any money of its own which it uses to subsidize things. It acquires most of its funds through indirect taxes. Indirect taxes suck up a higher percentage of an economically poorer person’s income when compared to an economically richer person. So in short, this law taxes the poorer and subsidizes the food for the richer. It is increasing the income disparity among the rich and poor under the pretext of the famous “reducing the gap between rich and poor”.

Also, the cost at which rice, wheat and millet is being promised under the act is far less than the actual market cost of these foods. So, producing these costs more than what selling them costs and the whole country is bearing the loss. Oh! And do not say its subsidized, coz as mentioned above; you now know how subsidy works. With proposed reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and formation of the State Food Commissions to ensure that the act is implemented, the cost of implementation of this act on paper is estimated to be $22 Billion (1.25 lac crore rupees). Well, that’s what is ‘on paper’. We all know how things work in India. There is one system which is intended to be and then there is another which actually is.

2. “Right to Education Act”

“Yay! So now we have a ‘right’ to education.” Period!
This act is actually named “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act”.  Firstly, what can be ‘free’ and ‘compulsory’? By ‘free’ it surely does not mean that children are free to opt or not opt for it, it means without money. If you continue to believe in the word ‘free’ education, ‘free’ health care etc. after reading above how subsidies work in India, please spare me and do not read this article any further. The education under this act is not only ‘subsidized’ but also ‘compulsory’! So you might be put behind bars if you opt out of it! You have to get your children educated. This reminds me of a case I heard from a friend where a Russian who was detained by the Soviet Union was released years later when he grew old and the reason for his release was that he no longer can work and contribute to the country so he is no more the property of Soviet Union. I see the same principle applied here. So, people are the property of the state?

A state who can force compulsory education on them on the pretext that they cannot decide what is good for them. We all know a government is not made of some super intelligent experienced people who have all the good intentions to work for people. They’re rather people like you and me who desire a living and have a family to feed. The only difference being that those men are power hungry. And does that make them eligible enough so that they can leave no room for choice by poor people and impose what they feel is right? As far as child labor is concerned, it is worthy to note how child labor came to an end in America. It is a flawed analogy that if we force children to go to school, they won’t be able to work and thus we reduce child labor. Rather, children who have to work will anyways work, now, in poorer conditions in hiding with threat to their and their parent’s lives and with bribing for survival. Conditions for them are now worse!

Well, that was my rant over just the title of the bill. Now let’s look within. The act makes it mandatory for the private schools to reserve 25% seats for ‘disadvantaged’ children. Although constitutionality of this clause is being debated in the Supreme Court but I have little faith on it being removed as the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitor general argue in favor of this clause saying that this is in line with the basic structure of the socialist scheme of the constitution. When lawyers advocate socialism in courts, how much of individual freedom can we expect from the system? I don’t understand how lawyers employed by the government are expected to fight for justice even though it maybe against the government. Will you fight a case against your employer? Or, if you want to, will you continue to be in employment? Isn’t this simple logic?

Anyway, why is 25% reservation is private schools a problem?  They have such high fee after all! For people who don’t know, in India you can’t run a school or a College ‘for profit’. At least, legally! Also of course if a class which had 100 students paying for the education, now has only 75 students paying with rest 25 free loader students. So who do you think is going to pay for those 25 kids’ education? Charity is good but is it moral enough to mandate charity on people even if they don’t wish to do it? Let me make one more thing really very clear here and now. Since I’m against forcing people paying for some unknown kids’ education, it does not mean that I want those kids to remain uneducated for life. Please see the difference here, I only mean that this is not the right way to get them education.

Most people who are ‘for’ such education welfare schemes are actually ‘for’ it because they think the poorer children should also have an opportunity to get educated. I too think so. But the “Right to Education” Bill closes other doors of such opportunity for these kids. When I say “private school”, most people imagine the big expensive private schools with huge fields and classrooms equipped with the most modern technologies. Very few would know that there are “small budget private schools” in our country and under our “right to education” laws these schools are illegal. These schools are illegal because they cannot meet the standards which a private school should have under government laws. So, our fantastic education laws first prohibit small budget schools from operating, then mandate big expensive private schools to have 25% reservation or the poorer kids. Not only that, most poorer kids who want to get educated can avail education only in the Government schools of their locality which might be having the standard playing grounds, numbers of tables and chairs but definitely not so good teachers, in fact, let me say that clearly, bad teachers.

What I don’t get is people’s obsession with passing new laws. New laws are not the solution. Repealing the old ones is. If you want a right, see what is prohibiting it and just get rid of it. I think almost every Bollywood fan would have hummed this song from Rockstar but did you ever actually get into the lyrics where it says:
“Marzi se jeene ki bhi main
Kya tum sabko arzi dun
Matab ki tum sabka mujhpe
Mujhse bhi zada haq hai”
Come on people, you can’t deny the fact that you own yourselves coz you do and you know it. As long as you are peacefully living your life, no one has the right to decide things for you and similarly you do not have the right to decide things for others. As far as making mistakes in life is concerned, everyone does that. When you or I make a wrong decision if affects our lives. But when a politician or a policy makes a wrong decision and imposes it on others, it ruins many lives. People in the government are like you and me and they too make mistakes. It’d be smarter to let individuals take decisions for themselves and make mistakes which affect them rather than trying to protect them and giving power to one person (who we call representative) to make mistake on all of us’ behalf. Remember your teenage and remind yourselves “There is no freedom if you do not have the freedom to make mistakes.”

Deeksha Gehlot is a graduate in law from Amity Law school, Amity University, Noida. Now, she is pursuing a Masters in Extension and Development Studies from Indira Gandhi National Open University in Delhi, India. Socialism has fascinated her until she discovered how libertarian she already was. Learning about how free markets benefit people made her interest go even deeper. She earned a certificate in public policy after attending the i-policy conducted by Center for Civil Society, Delhi.