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In 'Digital India,' Government Hands Out Free Phones To Win Votes (nytimes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Forget the old American campaign slogan of a chicken in every pot, or the Indian politician's common pledge to put rice in every bowl. The New York Times reports: Here in the state of Chhattisgarh, the chief minister, Raman Singh, has promised a smartphone in every home -- and he is using the government-issued devices to reach voters as he campaigns in legislative elections that conclude on Tuesday. [...] The phones are the latest twist in digital campaigning by the B.J.P., which controls the national and state government and is deft at using tools like WhatsApp groups and Facebook posts to influence voters. The B.J.P. government in Rajasthan, which holds state elections next month, is also subsidizing phones and data plans for residents, and party leaders are considering extending the model to other states.

Chhattisgarh's $71 million free-phone program -- known by the acronym SKY after its name in Hindi -- is supposed to bridge the digital divide in this state of 26 million people, which is covered by large patches of forest and counts 7,000 villages that do not even have a wireless data signal. The plan is to add hundreds of cellphone towers and give a basic smartphone to every college student and one woman in every household to connect more families to the internet and help fulfill the central government's goal of a "Digital India." But this election season, many of the 2.9 million people who have received the phones have found themselves targeted by the B.J.P.

48 comments

  1. As the old saying goes by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    " Beware of strangers bearing gifts "

    1. Re:As the old saying goes by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      In this case, the fool is handing out the rope to hang himself with. It's the tool that thinks it's a genius and everyone else is stupid in comparison. From the controlling the controlled message of paid for main stream media, to provide the tools where citizens can talk to each other all of the time, where they control the message, inevitable (they either like your message and listen or listen to someone else's, your opposition). The master mind, thinks it real cunning because delusionally it believes it will control how everyone uses that phone, nope, you might win one election but I'll be come election number 2, everyone with free phones will be making demands via those free phones and it is them, who controls the message.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re: As the old saying goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Begone from here, young Pajeet
      To the designated shitting street!

    3. Re:As the old saying goes by yes-but-no · · Score: 1

      Yeah, if you are a dictator, you should do everything to keep your folks dumb and information deficient. But India is a democracy (not yet a totally runaway one); so here if party1 doesn't give what people really want (like say free access to information), party2 is ready to open its wallet. Yes, in the long run it's good for the masses and that is the true intention of a democracy not polarization/concentration of power in a few hands.

  2. Obamaphone! by Computer_kid · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Keep Obama president, he gave us a phone" https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    1. Re:Obamaphone! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obama Phone lady regretting her exposition, courtesy of Alex Jones and Infowars --

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfLoJll_5YA

  3. Obama Phones revisited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buying votes never seems to get old.

    1. Re: Obama Phones revisited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes please

  4. I got Obama Phone. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I got phone from Obama.

    Obama gonna pay my mortgage.

    Obama gonna pay my water bill.

    Fuck Romney.

    Everybody in Cleveland low minority have Obama phone.

    Keep Obama IN PRESIDENT.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio

  5. Just like in the US! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do a search for ObamaPhones. I have several friends that have never worked, but have free phones that we're all paying for.

    1. Re:Just like in the US! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had several friends that have never worked. They were no longer my friends when I offered them a job to get out of welfare. One of them said he wanted a management position making more than me, the other said "Why do you go to work when you could stay home and collect welfare?" Fuckem. They can rot.

    2. Re:Just like in the US! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like you need better friends, especially ones who are not imaginary

  6. Very common in India. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
    It started in the South. The state of Tamil Nadu. Two parties battling in elections have promised to give free table fans, laptops, bicycles, TVs, mixer-grinders. (mixer -grinders is an essential kitchen appliance, indispensable to make idli, dosa, chutney).

    The goodies bought with the government funds will be liberally slapped with the pictures of the politician.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Very common in India. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smart move by Indian voters. They demand election promises to be paid in advance so they can't be forgotten the second the election is over.

  7. As the even older saying goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " Get off muh lawn "

  8. One woman by shaksys · · Score: 1

    One woman in every household get a phone. Men don't need to be connected.

    1. Re:One woman by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      Who will make up the flash mobs to stone the funny-looking guy who showed up in the village?

  9. Too many extra steps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stuffing ballot boxes while being immune to prosecution is cheaper and more efficient. They should look to Broward county as a role model.

  10. Oh good... by skam240 · · Score: 2

    Oh good, India's Nationalists are not only bribing voters but doing so in a way that they can keep can keep an eye on them.

    Heaven help their minorities with this kind of nationalist bullshit.

    --
    I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    1. Re:Oh good... by palemantle · · Score: 1

      Oh good, India's Nationalists are not only bribing voters but doing so in a way that they can keep can keep an eye on them.

      Heaven help their minorities with this kind of nationalist bullshit.

      Can the 'Oh the poor Muslim "minorities" are targeted' crap.

      This is nothing more than yet another foolish, wasteful election time bribe. This has been going on a long time in Indian politics and is anything but healthy for the country, but I'll thank you not to use that as an excuse to push your silly agenda. Doesn't fit the narrative one bit.

      Just search for 'india election freebies' and you'll find that this isn't anything new.

      Plenty of jokes going around on this topic too including one where a well known minister gets canned because he continued the usual practice of plastering his supremo's photo on all freebies but didn't think to stop short of doing the same for his free toilets scheme.

    2. Re:Oh good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is nothing more than yet another foolish, wasteful election time bribe. This has been going on a long time in Indian politics

      Where HASN'T this been going on? Politicians everywhere bribe voters with all kinds of advantages before elections.

    3. Re:Oh good... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      But when Obama bribed voters with free phones it was OK. This is pure tribalism: when my side does it it is good, but when your side does it it is wrong.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:Oh good... by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh good, India's Nationalists are not only bribing voters but doing so in a way that they can keep can keep an eye on them.

      Heaven help their minorities with this kind of nationalist bullshit.

      Can the 'Oh the poor Muslim "minorities" are targeted' crap.

      It's not just Muslims that are targeted by the BJP. Dalits are a favorite target as well. Heaven forbid you get caught by a "cow protection group" transporting a cow you just bought to add to your farm. They assume you are going to butcher it, so they butcher you. And they have the tacit and sometimes explicit permission from the BJP to do so. Don't forget that there is a minority population of Christians as well. If the Hindu nationalists get their way, Indian Christians will be a target as well.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    5. Re:Oh good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take your FUD and your ignorance somewhere else. It was Bush that started the program

    6. Re:Oh good... by skam240 · · Score: 1

      "But when Obama bribed voters with free phones it was OK"

      Are you referring to the federal lifeline program from 1985 that was broadened to cell phones in 2008 under Bush Jr.?

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    7. Re:Oh good... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Obamaphones were widely understood to be bribes to Obama's people. They were a drop in the bucket, but a nice start on the reparations they were owed. The program worked wonders, they all voted for him and any who dared dissent were ostracized.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:Oh good... by skam240 · · Score: 1

      The current rise of the BJP directly correlates to increases in violence against minorities in India https://www.indiatoday.in/indi... .

      Nationalists in any country have no love for those who are different.

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    9. Re:Oh good... by skam240 · · Score: 1

      They were very clearly part of federal policies that existed before Obama came into office. I've sited my own references, please site proper references for what you are claiming.

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    10. Re:Oh good... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      It was a tiny program before Obama ramped it up. The Lifeline Program predated President Obama, but it gained attention during his administration when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits he doled out to the poor. The program was rife with fraud, you could get one without being eligible. GAO investigators also submitted fraudulent applications to see what would happen, and 12 of the 19 phone carriers they applied to approved a phone. The whole thing was widely accepted as being reparations and recipients knew who was doing it and why. And it worked. Obama's people dared not vote for anyone else.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    11. Re:Oh good... by skam240 · · Score: 1

      "It was a tiny program before Obama ramped it up."

      The only way the program may have been "ramped up" under Obama is because of the higher number of eligible people due to the massive recession that happened just before his presidency. The qualifying circumstances went unchanged under Obama.

      "but it gained attention during his administration when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits he doled out to the poor."

      Obama made zero attempts to associate his name with this program. If some people associated him with the phones they would have been doing so incorrectly as he has nothing to do with the programs creation or the creation of the qualifying metrics.

      "GAO investigators also submitted fraudulent applications to see what would happen, and 12 of the 19 phone carriers they applied to approved a phone."

      So the monitoring of the program that was set up, once again, before Obama took office, was not set up very well. This is the fault of those people who were responsible for widening the program to cells under Bush.

      "The whole thing was widely accepted as being reparations and recipients knew who was doing it and why."

      Only by those who wanted that to be true. Anyone who objectively read into the program would know that Obama had nothing to do with that program.

      It's fine you don't like Obama but please find some real reasons not to like him.

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
  11. Meanwhile... by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, Phones hand out free governments.

    or something like that.

  12. News must be spreading of Modi's part in bringing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cladding made in China...

    Whole Project costing Hundreds of Millions, as many Indian people are starving...

    Even if it attracts Tourists, creating facilities for them means shifting lots of locals...

    Managers of any projects to address poverty cannot ignore this wasteful use of taxes,
    at their expense, IMO.

  13. Healthy Dental by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice article.Really it is informative and useful. Thanks for sharing this blog. - dentist in windsor mill md

    Healthy Dental

    https://healthydental.com/

  14. Old American campaign slogan ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It was the king Louis XVIII who said " Je veux que chaque laboureur de mon royaume puisse mettre la poule au pot le dimanche" (I want each peasant to be able to put a chicken in the pot on sundays). It isn't an old american slogan but a french slogan, you fucking ignorant twats.

    1. Re:Old American campaign slogan ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Henri IV in the 16th century...

  15. It used to happen even before this: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. https://www.india.com/news/india/karnataka-assembly-elections-2018-laptops-reservation-for-lingayats-women-on-congress-manifesto-3022988/
    2. https://qz.com/india/659048/from-free-televisions-to-laptops-smartphones-and-3g-how-to-win-an-election-in-india/
    3. https://www.bgr.in/news/akhilesh-yadav-announces-free-distribution-of-samajwadi-smartphones-in-uttar-pradesh/

    Well, why do the idiots bring this up when every party in India is used to doing this?

  16. feedback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    very knowledgeable article thanks for giving this information

  17. Not exclusive to india by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They do this all the time in the States too.

    Research global citizen festival. Plenty of lucrative youth based "do our bidding" activities available for all.

    There are tons of these type of "we've got something you want, you've got something we want" exchanges

  18. IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    gweihir KNOWS u IMPERSONATE me https://it.slashdot.org/commen... c6gunner proves it https://linux.slashdot.org/com... forgetting to SUBMIT BY AC & f'd up using his registered 'lusrname' instead (just because he tried to mock me both BEFORE & after I FAIRLY challenged him to show he's done better work - he had ZERO).

    & NO WAY I'd "cry" like you to "ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.

    YOU HELPED ME https://science.slashdot.org/c... (& you quit trying to make me look bad trying to "tell lies" on hosts as "ME" IN YOUR IMPERSONATIONS of me e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... & regarding Intel speculative execution attack? Hosts DO PREVENT THEM)

    APK

    P.S.=> I KNOW that 2nd to last link above's KILLING YOU that YOU ACTUALLY HELPED ME getting me to see if hosts stop more than portsmash (& Meltdown + Spectre too) & "lo & behold" - hosts WORK on 'em - U LOSE (& U STOPPED TRYING IT in your impersonations of me) .... apk

  19. Digital Payments, then Votes! by rojash · · Score: 1

    Brilliant move by politicians in a 'democracy' that is highly materialistic and can be bought over and brought over in the truck loads to voting centers. India was a pioneer in Digital Payments, soon Electronic voting by digital phone !! Hope he was smart enough to include a chinese spy chip in each of the phones so they can override the vote remotely lol

  20. Bush43 Phone by Frankie70 · · Score: 1

    The Obama Phone program was actually started by Bush43.

  21. Sanghi upset by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    because this shows BJP same as Amma, Lalu, Mulayam etc.

  22. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... by bblb · · Score: 1

    Taking a page straight out of the Obama admin's playbook. Yes you can India.