As she tours Tamil Nadu seeking a re-election as Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa makes it a point to list the multiple freebies, or handouts, her government has distributed. These include laptops, mixers, grinders, fans, gold coins and school kits. A rough estimate suggests the state government may have spent close to Rs 21,000 crore on handing them out.
The rival DMK has alleged that contracts to supply these items were handed out in an opaque manner, and that the products are substandard.
This criticism may not apply uniformly to all the handouts. Laptops, for instance, distributed free to needy students are supplied by Chinese laptop maker Lenovo and have drawn few complaints.
