An Election Placebo

Promises are free, and those made in the heat of electioneering best not taken at face value. The October 22 announcement of Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, offering a free Covid vaccine to all residents of poll-bound Bihar, is one such promise. In any case, the ‘free vaccine’ jumla, which even finds place in the BJP’s manifesto for the Bihar elections, needn’t have any cost implications for the central exchequer—health is a state subject, and the Centre, at best, underwrites a portion of the expenses. Which makes the promise that much more facile.

Sitharaman’s announcement has had a domino effect, nevertheless. It’s festival