Goal of a Universal basic income, more for the marginalised, no to uniformity in a plural country, were ideological highlights in Siddaramaiah's speech.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during Karnataka budget 2023 presentation on 7 July, 2023 in Karnataka assembly.
“Budget is not merely an exercise in the management of finances. It is an instrument to clearly spell out our priorities and objectives and realise them,” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Friday, 7 July, while presenting the Karnataka budget for 2023-24.
Beyond the much-criticised financial jugglery of reallocation, additional borrowings, revised revenue targets, and enhanced tax on liquor to fund big-ticket guarantees, the budget had many firsts.
The first revenue-deficit budget presented by Siddaramaiah, violating the Fiscal Responsibility Act; the first budget presented without a Leader of Opposition in the House; the first budget that allocated funds towards the larger goal of a Universal Basic Income (UBI); and the first budget charting a roadmap for what Siddaramaiah deemed the “Karnataka model of governance”.
What the budget speech also had was a clear ideological position — political, economic, and social.
“A Karnataka model of governance with the fundamental principle of ‘Sarvarigu Samapalu, Sarvarigu Samabalu’ (An Equal Life for All, An Equal Share for All),” said Siddaramaiah describing what his budget was hoping to achieve.
The phrase seemed to outshine Rahul Gandhi’s call for ‘Jitni Aabadi, Utna Haq‘ (rights of people proportion to share of population) in Kolar ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections.
For the Opposition, that is looking at social justice as an effective counter to BJP’s majoritarianism-fueled consolidation ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Siddaramaiah’s budget, presenting his vision of a “Karnataka model”, may just be the right blueprint.
Consider its highlights: A dedicated focus on schemes for women; enhanced allocation of funds to marginalised communities; an unapologetic rejection of criticism over social welfare schemes; moving one step closer to a UBI. And, most of all, saying a resounding no to uniformity in a country of plurality.
Siddaramaiah’s budget speech covered a range of ideological objectives and has the potential to be a blueprint, specifically for the Congress, and in general the Opposition, ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls.
Ever since Congress’ landslide victory in Karnataka, leaders of the party have used that as an example in other poll-bound states. Now, the party has a sample budget to display on similar lines.
Focus on social sectors
The budget, however, comes with financial burden, with a cut in expenditure on sectors like education and health by one percentage point.
For example, in the sectoral allocation made by Basavaraj Bommai in February this year in his interim budget, ₹37,960 crore (12 percent of budget) and ₹15,151 crore (five percent) were allocated for education and health, respectively.
In Siddaramaiah’s budget, these were cut down to ₹37,587 crore (11 percent) and ₹14,950 (four percent).
But a look at target sectors like women and child development tells a different story. While the Bommai budget allocated ₹5,676 crore (2 percent of the budget) towards women and child development, Siddaramaiah’s budget set aside ₹24,166 crore (seven percent).
This is set to include the Congress’ flagship guarantee, the Gruha Lakshmi scheme.
Similar is the case with the energy sector that will include Gruha Jyothi, food and civil supplies sector that will include Anna Bhagya, or home and transport sector that will accommodate the Shakti scheme for free bus travel by women.
Although down in terms of percentage points compared to Bommai’s budget for social justice as a sector, the actual allocation is marginally higher in Siddaramaiah’s budget owing to increased allocation of funds under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe sub plans.
“Though the major share of GST collected comes from the bottom 60 percent people of society, most profits of the economic system go to top 10 percent people of society. Therefore, pro-people governments should follow the policies that re-distribute the resources among the poor. Our guarantee schemes will do this task,” Siddaramaiah said, dismissing the deriding of welfare schemes as “freebies”, and reiterating they were the right of the people deprived of opportunities and equal footing.
“The National Education Policy (NEP) implemented by the Union government is incompatible with the federal system of governance. It has several anomalies which undermine the Constitution and democracy,” insisted Siddaramaiah, rejecting outrigh the idea of “One Nation, One Everything” — a majoritarian push by the ruling dispensation on everything from fertilisers to the civil code.
“Uniform education system does not suit a nation like India which has diverse religions, languages and cultures,” he stressed.
Siddaramaiah’s demand for adherence to federal principles even spilled to the increasingly reduced financial share to states from the Union government.
“It will also reduce the compulsion to work in pregnant women, lactating mothers, women senior citizens and sick women. It is a small step towards to providing a level playing field for woman in society,” Siddaramaiah said, rationalising his government’s decision to transfer ₹2,000 to women heads of households under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme.
The scheme will extend to ASHA workers, Anganawadi workers, mid-day meal makers, gender minorities and former Devadasis. It is undoubtedly, the largest financial security scheme that has been launched in the country, he noted.
But they could be a little more than that.
The Gruha Laksmi scheme, coupled with Yuva Nidhi (unemployment allowance) that puts money directly into the hands of beneficiaries — similar to the Union government’s Kisan Samman scheme — and money-saving schemes like Shakti, Anna Bhagya and Gruha Jyothi are an effort to move closer to a UBI — a page from the Congress-led UPA 2’s vision later deconstructed by Rahul Gandhi as the NYAY scheme.
“The five guarantees are expected to reach about 1.30 crore families. This means we will be providing on an average additional financial assistance of ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 monthly to each household, which is about ₹48,000 to ₹60,000 every year. This is done with the objective of providing a Universal Basic Income for our citizens,” Siddaramaiah declared in the speech.
The realisation of this objective is where the challenge lies. With a multitude of riders, the schemes are already under scrutiny for narrowing down the scope of beneficiaries.
The budget also included a host of schemes for the minority communities — something that came under attack by the Opposition BJP and several right-wing groups.
What the criticism didn’t cover, however, was also the enhanced allocation for the SC, ST and OBC communities — all considered as part of the Hindu fold.
“Justice is not discrimination or polarisation or creating divisions in the society. Justice is fairness, justice is empathy, and justice is to eliminate economic inequalities by providing greater opportunities for those who are deprived,” Siddaramaiah said — a clear ideological stand on inclusivity.
Inclusivity against division, social justice against majoritarianism, welfarism against crony capitalism — Siddaramaiah’s budget has the potential to be a political talking point on all those fronts.
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