Last week, Maharashtra’s forest minister reportedly said that teak plantations worth Rs 12,000 crore may be monetised, including felling mature teak trees, to help raise funds and repay loans, partly necessitated by the mounting fiscal burden of welfare commitments, such as the Ladki Bahin scheme. The annual outgo of that scheme alone is estimated between Rs 36,000 and Rs 46,000 crore, which is over 5 per cent of the state’s total expenditure as per the budget documents of last year.

Forests are not surplus inventory

For a moment, we may pause and reflect on the symbolism. Forests are not surplus inventory. They are ecological assets meant for future generations. They are carbon sinks in a climate-stressed world. They regulate water cycles, protect biodiversity, and serve as natural insurance against environmental collapse.

To cut them down in order to finance annual revenue expenditure, and that too recurring cash transfers, is not merely a budgetary decision; it is intergenerational liquidation. If trees are felled this year to fund this year’s freebie burden, what will be cut next year? Even if the teak plantation stock is being marketed as a “departmental asset”, the political symbolism is unavoidable: the state is contemplating drawing down long-lived environmental capital to service recurring revenue commitments.

Rise of competitive populism

This is not an isolated case. Across India, competitive populism has acquired a new velocity. It has been enabled by technology. The JAM trinity—Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar identity, and mobile connectivity—has made direct benefit transfers seamless.

More than 500 million no-frills bank accounts, Aadhaar-linked targeting, and instant transfers have allowed governments to move from distributing goods to transferring cash directly into bank........

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