Deosaran: Champagne taste, but mauby pockets

Independent Senator Prof Ramesh Deosaran yesterday accused Government of shaping “a greedy society of champagne taste and mauby pocket.” The independent senator also told Government its policies of giving generously to the poor, while ignoring the needs of the middle class, were damaging the salaried class in the country. The middle classes are catching hell, he declared, as he analysed the “Mother Teresa Budget.” “You want to take care of those who seem to be in distress. You feel sorry for a group and you let the money go in that direction.” He said while this policy was good, it had its limits especially since it drew on taxpayers’ money. “We must remember that Mother Teresa came and she went and Calcutta still remains,” he said. He noted that the middle-classes suffer the burdens of  heavy taxation, high prices and uneasiness about high crime levels and other environmental stress. “You are damaging the middle-class!” he said, adding that these people had no inherited wealth, but climbed up the ladder through sweat and sacrifice. “And when they reach there, they feel you have that which you can take,” he stated.

Citing figures, Deosaran said economic prosperity and the reduction in the unemployment rate, did not provide increased national security in terms of personal safety and the reduction in the crime rate. As the GDP rose, so did the murder rate, kidnapping and rape, he noted. “What we have is a criminogenic prosperity, a prosperity that breeds crime, incivility and civic disdain,” Deosaran stated. Noting the country had been on this slippery slope for some years now, the Senator said, “Don’t believe $27.9 billion will solve these fundamental  human problems,” he said. Deosaran stated that Government assistance via its social projects would be exploited, “Because  people will know that they will get and get and get without any conditionalities attached to that dispensation. So what are you shaping? You shaping a greedy society with champagne taste and mauby pockets.” Deosaran said the family must take on more responsibility.

“For how long would Government take care of single this and single that?” he asked, adding that Government had to draw the line “sooner or later.” Deosaran said “self-responsibility” must be one of the conditionalities attached to social programmes. He said the value system spawned through the families was killing the country. He referred to an article which talked about young girls working as prostitutes, with their mothers operating as the pimp. He also cited the case of the four boys who were shot by the police during a carjacking, saying that their families said they were all good quiet boys.  He said the “culture of violence” was beyond the reach of the teachers, the police, the Minister of National Security and beyond $27.9 billion. Deosaran conceded there was a continuum of dependency — persons who were so handicapped and destitute that they cannot do anything and properly so, but to rely on Government’s help. “But as you go up the scale there are con-artists, exploiters of the system, redundant beneficiaries,” he warned.