Middle Class Voters Feel Deprived of The Benefits For General Elections

GUWAHATI: The middle-class people of Guwahati, maybe of the State as a whole, are not happy with the general elections. They feel they are deprived of the benefits which the government showered on the poor and the rich.

Most middle-class people think that the government could have performed well in job generation, improvement of roads, checking the rise in prices of essential commodities, etc. The government has many schemes for people of all classes, but in most of the cases, the schemes fail to reach the target beneficiaries. Even as there are schemes, the target beneficiaries cannot avail them as most of them fail to meet the requirements like various documents to avail the benefits. Even if they have documents backing their claim, there is a lack of awareness. This apart, red tape is still a hindrance for the schemes in reaching their target beneficiaries.

A section of students feels that government colleges with affordable boarding facilities are scarce in Guwahati. There are a number of government colleges in the metropolitan city. Students from poor and middle-class families rush to such colleges for admission. However, the major hurdle for poor and middle-class students is that these colleges lack adequate boarding facilities. This leads such students to stay in private hostels paying through their nose. It’s a huge burden on their parents.

Anirban Baruah, a city-based businessman, said: “There’s agriculture loan for farmers. However, most of the farmers fail to avail such loans as they simply cannot meet all the requirements. There are subsidies for seeds and fertilizers, but the system is not farmer-friendly. Farmers are known for their ignorance and as such all schemes meant for them need to be designed in sync with their skill set.”

The system is no different while availing a whole lot of medical facilities. The poor and most of the middle-class families cannot go to a private hospital because of a cash crunch even as such hospitals render better services. The government hospitals, on the other hand, have facilities that are very difficult for poor and lower-middle-class people to get – be it because of rush or red tape.

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