Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the government would provide details about the financial implications in the budget in July.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with DCM DK Shivakumar and Home Minister G Parameshwara announcing dates for five guarantees.
In a step that can be deemed a sign of gender inclusivity and empowerment, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka has decided to make transgender women also eligible for its guarantee schemes of Shakti and Gruha Lakshmi.
The free bus ride scheme for all women and ₹2,000 universal basic income scheme for women heads of the household will now also extend to transgender women.
Within less than a month of coming to power in Karnataka, the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah put its five poll “guarantees” on a timeline and picked different dates in July and August to set them rolling.
Asserting that the Congress government would implement all five poll guarantees in this fiscal year, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Friday, 2 June: “It has been decided in the Cabinet meeting that all the five poll guarantees will be implemented in the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24.”
Before announcing his decision, the chief minister chaired the aforementioned Cabinet meeting and held detailed discussions — including those on the financial implications of the implementation of all the five poll guarantees — at Vidhana Soudha on Friday.
“In the special Cabinet meeting, we decided to implement all five guarantees — irrespective of religion, caste, and language. We will ensure that all the guarantees reach the last person,” said Siddaramaiah.
He added: “Gruha Jyothi will be implemented from 1 August, Gruha Lakshmi will be launched on 15 August, Shakti will be kicked off from 11 June, and Anna Bhagya will be implemented from 1 July.”
However, the government didn’t announce the launch date for Yuva Nidhi.
“The government will issue guidelines separately for all the five guarantees. As promised, we have not put any kind of conditions to avail the benefit of these five guarantees,” said the chief minister.
The Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government announced that the Gruha Jyothi would be implemented from 1 August.
Gruha Jyothi — up to 200 units of free electricity for every house — was the first poll guarantee announced by the Congress during its poll campaign.
ಜುಲೈ 1 ರಿಂದ ಅನ್ವಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಪ್ರತಿ ಮನೆಗೆ ಗರಿಷ್ಠ 200 ಯುನಿಟ್ ವರೆಗೆ ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ ಅನ್ನು ಉಚಿತವಾಗಿ ನೀಡಲು ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದ ಸಚಿವ ಸಂಪುಟವು ಅನುಮೋದನೆ ನೀಡಿದೆ.
ಈ ಯೋಜನೆಯ ದುರ್ಬಳಕೆ ತಡೆಯಲು ಫಲಾನುಭವಿಗಳು ಹಿಂದಿನ ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷದ ಅವಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಕೆ ಮಾಡಿರುವ ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ ಸರಾಸರಿಯನ್ನು ಗಣನೆಗೆ… pic.twitter.com/MzROuL9D4V
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 2, 2023
“The government will take into account one year’s average power consumption and will give free electricity up to 10 percent more than the average usage. This scheme will be applicable for the power usage from 1 July, 2023,” announced the chief minister.
He added: “The electricity bill for June is already being issued. So, the people need not pay electricity bills from 1 August. Consumers have to pay the arrears till that day. There is no exemption for those who have arrears.”
He also said: “This scheme is applicable to everyone. We have not put any conditions. This is also applicable to those who are residing in rented houses.”
Siddaramaiah said that the Karnataka government would launch the Gruha Lakshmi scheme on the 76th Independence Day — 15 August this year.
Under this scheme, the Congress promised in the run-up to the elections to provide ₹2,000 per month to the woman head of both Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) families.
Announcing the scheme, Siddaramaiah said: “We will not be the one to decide who is the head of the family. It is up to the family to decide. Women have to apply online for this scheme and provide their bank account and Aadhaar details.”
ಯಾವುದೇ ಜಾತಿ, ಧರ್ಮ, ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಗಣಿಸದೆ ನಾಡಿನ ಪ್ರತಿ ಮನೆಯ ಯಜಮಾನಿಗೆ ಮಾಸಿಕ ರೂ. 2,000 ಸಹಾಯಧನವನ್ನು ನೀಡಲು ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದ ಸಂಪುಟ ಸಭೆಯು ಅನುಮೋದನೆ ನೀಡಿದೆ.
ಬಿಪಿಎಲ್ ಅಥವಾ ಎಪಿಎಲ್ ಕುಟುಂಬದ ಮಹಿಳೆಯು ತಮ್ಮ ಬ್ಯಾಂಕ್ ಖಾತೆಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಆಧಾರ್ ಕಾರ್ಡ್‌ನ ದಾಖಲೆಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಜಿ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಿ,… pic.twitter.com/G5bKiWVjQz
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 2, 2023
“The application process will start from 15 June and continue to 15 July. The government needs one month to process these applications. After the applications are processed, we will launch the scheme on 15 August,” declared the chief minister.
“This scheme is also applicable to all those women who are availing social-security pensions including old-age and widow pensions. We have not put any conditions,” said Siddaramaiah.
The chief minister said that the Anna Bhagya scheme would be launched on 1 July.
Under this scheme, holders of BPL and Antyodaya Cards will get 10 kg of rice per month.
“The BJP government reduced the quantity of foodgrain being given from 7 kg to 5 kg. Now the quantity of foodgrain will be increased to 10 kg,” announced Siddaramaiah.
He clarified: “This scheme will be launched from 1 July as the foodgrains for the month of June have already been dispatched and additional food grains have to be procured.”
The chief minister added: “This scheme is applicable not only to BPL Card holders but also Antyodaya Card holders. We will start procuring the required quantity of foodgrain and will implement this from next month.”
Stating that all women — from students to the elderly — would travel free, Siddaramaiah said: “As promised, we are implementing Shakti. All women can travel now travel for free in state-operated buses from 11 June.”
This scheme applies to all the women residing in Karnataka, irrespective of their age.
The government has also extended the Shakti scheme to transgender women.
ಶಾಲಾ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿಯರು ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವರ್ಗದ ಮಹಿಳೆಯರಿಗೆ ಎಸಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಲಕ್ಷುರಿ ಬಸ್ ಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊರತುಪಡಿಸಿ ಇತರೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಬಸ್ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ್ಯದೊಳಗೆ ಉಚಿತ ಪ್ರಯಾಣ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯ ನೀಡಲು ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದ ಸಂಪುಟ ಸಭೆ ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿದೆ.
ಜೂನ್ 11 ರಂದು “ಶಕ್ತಿ” ಯೋಜನೆಗೆ ಚಾಲನೆ ನೀಡಲಿದ್ದು, ಶೇ. 94 ರಷ್ಟು… pic.twitter.com/EhcX7FtZAb
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 2, 2023
Siddaramaiah said: “All women — including students — can travel free of cost within the state in all buses except AC and other luxury buses.”
He added: “We will launch this scheme from 11 June. This will allow women to travel in 94 percent of the buses. We have not put any conditions for women to travel free in state buses.”
He further said: “There are no seat reservations in BMTC buses. However, 50 percent of the seats will be reserved for men in state (KSRTC) buses.”
Replying to reporters’ queries, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said: “This scheme is for the people of Karnataka. We will soon come out with the identification cards or passes.”
Though the chief minister also said that the Yuva Nidhi scheme would be implemented, he did not announce a launch date.
Under this scheme, the unemployed graduates and diploma holders would be given ₹3,000 and ₹1,500, respectively, for a period of two years.
Siddaramaiah said: “The unemployed graduates in the age group of 18-25 years are eligible to claim the benefit of the Yuva Nidhi scheme. This is also applicable to all those who became graduates in the 2022-23 academic year. We will soon call for applications from unemployed graduates and diploma holders.”
He added: “If the graduate or diploma holder did not get any job for about six months from graduation, they could apply. The government will provide them with the promised financial assistance for about two years. If the beneficiary gets employed either in the government or the private sector within two years, the government will discontinue the financial assistance.”
The chief minister also said: “There are some technical glitches, as we have to develop software and process applications. This is also applicable to all professional graduates and even transgenders can benefit from it.”
After announcing all five guarantees, Siddaramaiah refused to comment on the financial implications of their implementation.
It may be recalled that Siddaramaiah himself had claimed that implementing all five guarantees would cost anywhere around ₹50,000-52,000 crore to the state exchequer.
However, when reporters on Thursday asked him how much it would cost the state exchequer to implement the five guarantees, he refused to answer and instead said: “I will talk separately about the total cost of implementation.”
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, on his part, told the reporters at Vidhana Soudha: “The government will present the budget in July. We will give details about the financial implications in the budget.”
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