New Delhi, March 10 -- In 123 BCE, Gaius Gracchus passed the lex frumentaria, a law mandating that the Roman state sell grain to citizens at a fixed below-market price. The aim was modest: stabilize food prices, protect the poor.

Within two generations, it had become free distribution. By the Augustus era, 200,000 Romans were on the rolls; by the Aurelian, 600,000, and pork had been added to the ration.

Historians still argue whether this generosity strengthened Roman cohesion or hastened the ruin of its treasury. It was probably both.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in a study commissioned by the 16th Finance Commission (FC), has added up India's subsidies and transfers with unusual thoroughness.

The numbers are not reassuring. Sta...