Brinda Karat urged Justice Gavai to reconsider his comments on welfare schemes, highlighting their role in supporting the poor and women’s critical unpaid labor, and advocating for social justice over stigma.
NEW DELHI: CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat has written an open letter to Supreme Court Justice B R Gavai, urging him to reconsider his remarks on welfare schemes and freebies. Karat expressed concern that such comments from the country’s highest court could strip the poor of their dignity and reinforce negative social perceptions about welfare beneficiaries.
Karat, a former Rajya Sabha MP, emphasized that welfare schemes are essential for social and economic justice in a country ranked among the most unequal societies in the world.
“Your comments do not do justice to the hardworking women of India. Nor do they recognise the hard struggle that the labouring people of India face for survival because of rampant unemployment, precarious nature of work available and low wages,”
she wrote in her letter.
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Her response comes after Justice Gavai’s remarks during a court hearing on Wednesday, where he questioned whether welfare benefits were creating a class of parasites instead of encouraging people to contribute to the nation’s development.
Karat strongly refuted the claim that welfare schemes discourage work, particularly among women.
She pointed out that the “Ladki-Behen scheme”, which provides direct cash benefits of Rs 1,000–2,000 in nine states (soon to expand to 12), is not stopping women from working. Instead, she argued that Indian women are already overworked—engaging in unpaid labor at home and in family enterprises.
“The issue here is not that they are not working, but that they are working without any remuneration,”
she explained.
She cited a 2023-24 SBI survey that estimated if Indian women’s unpaid work were monetized, it would be worth Rs 22 lakh crore annually—around 7% of India’s GDP.
Karat stressed that stipends through welfare schemes should be seen as social compensation for unpaid labor rather than charity or handouts.
“This unpaid work contribution of India’s women, which is a key to family survival, is among the highest in the world. This work by women is socially unrecognised and demeaned as ‘women not working.’ Regretfully your reported comments add to this notion,”
she wrote.
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She acknowledged that political parties might use welfare schemes for electoral gains, but said this should not undermine the fundamental rights of the poor.
Karat concluded by stating that so-called freebies cannot replace proper implementation of minimum wages and workers’ rights.
Her letter serves as a strong defense of welfare schemes, arguing that they empower the poor rather than making them dependent.
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