Aadhaar, ID card, GST registration, income tax: Conditions mount for Congress’ ‘unconditional’ guarantees

Of the four guarantees, the two direct cash transfer benefit schemes — Gruha Lakshmi and Yuva Nidhi — seem to come with the most conditions, opening up the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka to severe criticism.

Conditions apply, and how! 

Of the five poll guarantees announced, the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government is implementing Shakti (free travel for all women in state buses) from 11 July.

It comes with some conditions, including mandatory registration on the Seva Sindhu online portal or at taluk-level government offices offline to access a “smart card” that is to be used instead of a ticket. Beneficiaries have been given three months to complete this process.

In the meanwhile, pink tickets — like zero tickets — will be given to eligible women commuters.

The Shakti scheme will also apply only to domicile women. Towards that end, conductors in the bus have been instructed to inspect the ID cards of women passengers and only then provide free bus ride.

The conditions are especially jarring in light of the Congress’ earlier move to include transgender women in the Shakti scheme, which was seen as a step towards promoting inclusivity in the state.

Under the Gruha Jyothi scheme, the Congress promised 200 units of free electricity to every household in the state.

Now, the scheme will not apply to households that consume more than 200 units in a month on average. Households that consume more than 200 units of electricity will have to pay the whole bill.

There are also conditions for exceeding the average annual consumption. But the biggest criticism has come over the government’s insistence on registration on the Seva Sindhu portal and linking of Aadhaar cards with the customer ID number in the electricity bill.

While the free electricity scheme will extend to those living in rented houses, the waiting period, according to Power Minister KJ George, to avail of the scheme in a newly-shifted house will be one year.

Confusions, disappointment 

The most confusion and riders, however, are around the two cash transfer benefit schemes — Gruha Lakshmi (financial assistance to women) and Yuva Nidhi (financial aid for the unemployed).

The Congress earlier stated that the Gruha Lakshmi scheme would benefit every woman head of the family, while the Yuva Nidhi scheme would benefit all unemployed graduates.

As per the guidelines issued by the state government, the Gruha Lakshmi scheme would actually benefit only women whose families are Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) card holders. The scheme was aimed at homemakers and not working women.

BPL and APL cardholders already get the benefit of food grain at subsidised rates, and a few other benefits, on account of their financial status.

The government, on the other hand, has decided to keep women whose families — husband or son, or both — pay taxes out of the ambit of the scheme. However, this could be a temporary move.

Meanwhile, there is also no clarity on what happens to women who hold Annapurna or Antyodaya cards, which are necessary for their holders to avail of the Anna Bhagya scheme.

Similarly, the government has announced that the Yuva Nidhi scheme will be applicable to only those unemployed youths who graduate in 2023. No such mention was made during election campaigns.

If anything, Congress leaders — including Rahul Gandhi — declared that the scheme was aimed at all unemployed youths in Karnataka.

The conditions and confusion over the Gruha Lakshmi and Yuva Nidhi schemes are expected to irk many people who have now been placed outside their ambit.

Related: Siddaramaiah sets rollout dates for Karnataka poll guarantees

U-turns on Gruha Lakshmi

Siddaramaiah chaired a meeting with the Minister for Women and Welfare Laxmi Hebbalkar on the implementation of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in Bengaluru on Thursday, 8 June.

Asserting that taxpayers had been excluded from the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Siddaramaiah told reporters in Bengaluru after the meeting: “Both BPL and APL card holders will benefit from the Gruha Lakshmi scheme.”

He added: “The taxpayers cannot avail of this scheme. Those who pay taxes and have registered for the GST can’t take this benefit.”

ಯಾವುದೇ ಜಾತಿ, ಧರ್ಮ, ಭಾಷೆ, ವರ್ಗಗಳ ಆಧಾರದ ಮೇಲೆ ತಾರತಮ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ನಾಡಿನ ಪ್ರತಿ ಮನೆಯ ಯಜಮಾನಿಗೆ ಮಾಸಿಕ ರೂ. 2,000 ಸಹಾಯಧನವನ್ನು ನೀಡಲು ಇಂದು ನಡೆದ ಸಚಿವ ಸಂಪುಟ ಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತೀರ್ಮಾನಿಸಿದ್ದೇವೆ.

ಬಿಪಿಎಲ್ ಅಥವಾ ಎಪಿಎಲ್ ಕುಟುಂಬದ ಮಹಿಳೆಯು ತಮ್ಮ ಬ್ಯಾಂಕ್ ಖಾತೆಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಆಧಾರ್ ಕಾರ್ಡ್‌ನ ದಾಖಲೆಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಜಿ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಿ,… pic.twitter.com/oBZWTenJ4o

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) June 2, 2023

Meanwhile, Hebbalkar told reporters after the meeting on Thursday: “The chief minister directed the officials to simplify the process by dropping the mandatory requirement of voters’ ID and passbook account details from the beneficiaries.”

She added: “As beneficiaries would already have Aadhaar cards, and this would be linked to their bank accounts, the chief minister insisted that there be no separate requirement for voter IDs or bank passbook details.”

The minister also said: “The beneficiaries have to apply online for the scheme, and women in rural areas can apply through the Nadakacheri [a state government portal]. The government has made it clear that those women, whose husbands and sons are paying taxes and registered for GST cannot be included in the scheme.”

However, she said that the government was likely to drop this condition in the coming days and include all women under this scheme.

On Friday, the minister had made a change to her stance. Laxmi Hebbalkar said the son paying income tax or being a registered GST payer would not impact the mother as a beneficiary. A lot of confusion continues over the Gruha Lakshmi scheme.

On 16 January, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi announced the second guarantee — the Gruha Lakshmi scheme — at Bengaluru Palace during the “Na Nayaki” event.

“The Congress guarantees that every woman head of the household will get ₹2,000 per month once we come to power. The amount will be credited to the accounts of the woman head of the family. This income for every woman will help them run their household by overcoming the burden of price rise and increase in LPG prices,” said Priyanka, adding that it would benefit 1.5 crore women.

Related: Electricity bill collectors get Congress’ poll-guarantee shock

Existing unemployed youth out of Yuva Nidhi?

When former AICC president Rahul Gandhi announced the Yuva Nidhi scheme during the Yuva Shakti Samavesha in Belagavi on 20 March, the Congress said this scheme would benefit all the unemployed youths.

However, its government has rolled out certain conditions for youngsters to avail of this monetary benefit.

BJP’s 40% Commission Sarkar wiped away jobs & opportunities.

Congress’ #YuvaNidhi will empower Karnataka’s unemployed Youth

✅ ₹3000/month for Graduates
✅ ₹1500/month for Diploma holders
✅ 2.5 lakh Govt jobs in 1 year
✅ 10 lakh Pvt sector jobs

That’s a Congress Guarantee! pic.twitter.com/eNmXvIa5lr

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 20, 2023

Under this scheme, every unemployed youth with a graduate degree would get ₹3,000 every month, and those holding a diploma would get ₹1,500 every month for a period of two years.

As per the Karnataka government guidelines issued now, the beneficiary should have graduated in the 2022-23 academic year and should have been unemployed for about six months from the day of graduation. This effectively postpones the payout under this scheme by six months from the end of exam results.

Now, there are fresh conditions. For starters, the beneficiary has to be the domicile of Karnataka. Secondly, those doing business or are self-employed are not eligible for it.

Meanwhile, the state government has not announced the date for the launch of this youth-centric guarantee either.

Siddaramaiah earlier said about the monetary aid: “If the beneficiary gets employed — either in the government sector or in the private sector — within these two years, the government will discontinue the financial assistance.”

He added: “This is also applicable to all professional graduates, and even transgenders can benefit from it.”

However, he also said: “There are some technical hitches, as we have to develop software and process applications.”

Total annual cost: ₹59,000 crore

Though the Karnataka government is yet to officially disclose the financial implications of the implementation of the five poll guarantees, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stated that it would cost the exchequer ₹59,000 crore every fiscal year.

ನಾವು ನಾಡಿನ ಜನರ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷೆಗೆ ತಕ್ಕಂತೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಚುನಾವಣೆ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಭರವಸೆ ನೀಡಿದ 5 ಗ್ಯಾರಂಟಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುಷ್ಠಾನಗೊಳಿಸುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ವಾರ್ಷಿಕ 59,000 ಕೋಟಿ ರೂ. ಹಣಕಾಸಿನ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದ್ದು, ಪ್ರಸಕ್ತ ವರ್ಷದ ಬಾಕಿ ಉಳಿದ ತಿಂಗಳುಗಳಿಗೆ ಯೋಜನೆ ಅನುಷ್ಠಾನಗೊಳಿಸಲು 41,000 ಕೋಟಿ ರೂ. ಗಳ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ.
4/5…

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) June 8, 2023

While interacting with the representatives of the organisation Wake-up Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said: “Our government will work as per the expectations of the people. We would annually need ₹59,000 crore to implement the five guarantees.”

He added: “The financial requirement is ₹41,000 crore for the remaining months of the ongoing fiscal year.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Power KJ George said in a statement that the implementation of the Gruha Jyothi scheme would cost around ₹13,000 crore every fiscal.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah claimed that the government would need ₹50,000-52,000 crore to implement the five poll guarantees.

Shakti will be the first guarantee to be launched by the Congress government — on 11 June.

Gruha Jyothi and Anna Bhagya will be implemented from 1 July, and Gruha Lakshmi is expected to be launched on 15 August.