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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Nagesh Prabhu

Karnataka Siddaramaiah presents ‘guarantee Budget’ with promise of welfare for all

For promoting inclusive development, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented a Budget with focus on welfare for the benefit of the common man by relaunching several discontinued schemes and offering interest-subsidy loans for people at the margins.

Backed by 21% growth in GST, Mr. Siddaramaiah in his 14th Budget allocated ₹35,410 crore for implementing what he called the “guarantee budget” that seeks to implement the five guarantees promised to the electorate during Assembly elections, which would benefit 1.3 crore families.

Excise, guidance value hike

For mobilising resources for funding the guarantees, the Budget proposed to hike excise duty on Indian Made Liquor by 20% in all 18 slabs and beer by 10%.

It proposes to revise the guidance value of all immovable properties, and set higher targets for mobilisation of revenue for all income-generating departments. He proposed to increase the borrowings from ₹72,090 crore in 2022-23 to ₹86,068 crore, an increase of ₹13,979 crore, a 19% rise.

The size of the Budget is up from ₹2,65,720 crore in 2022-23 to ₹3,27,747 crore in 2023-24, an increase of ₹62,027 crore, a 23% growth. Mr. Siddaramaiah said the government would make efforts to augment the State economy to one trillion-dollar economy by boosting the State’s GSDP from 13% to 17% by expanding the scope of all major sectors.

Karnataka model of development

By finding fault in “double engine” government’s policies, including GST, devolution of funds, MGNREGA, and new education policy (NEP), in more than 40 references of the Budget, the Chief Minister said an effort would be made to provide the “Karnataka model of development” for ensuring “equal life for all, and equal share for all.”

He took digs at the Narendra Modi-led government and said the Central government was yet to release ₹1,554 crore to the State under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. This resulted in delay of payment for 8.63 lakh labourers.

Predictably, the budgetary allocations have been increased for welfare schemes meant for Scheduled Caste and Tribes, OBCs, farmers and women who have suffered by inflation, COVID-19 pandemic, and unemployment.

Interest-free loans

Short-term interest free loans have been increased to ₹5 lakh for farmers and ₹3 lakh for fishermen. Under the interest rate subsidy loans, the Budget proposed 4% interest subsidy up to ₹20 lakh to farmers’ produce organisations, 7% up to ₹20 lakh to farmers, and interest-free loan up to ₹20 lakh for students pursuing higher education abroad, among others.

Focusing on education sector, Mr. Siddaramaiah termed the NEP as “incompatible” with the federal system and proposed a new education policy keeping in mind the local social, cultural, and economic milieu of the State.

For unemployed youth, a new scheme “Swawalambi Sarathi” was proposed under which youth belonging to SC/ST would be provided 75% subsidy of the loan of ₹4 lakh for purchase of four-wheeler vehicles. For providing social security to the gig workers hired by e-commerce companies, it was proposed to implement an insurance policy of ₹4 lakh to be borne by the government.

The Budget decided to generate revenue through asset monetisation of vacant sites and buildings under the Public Works Department. It proposed three new policies in different sectors --- civil aviation, agro-processing industries, Bengaluru city gas distribution.

Schemes re-launched

Close to a dozen of schemes scrapped by the previous BJP government would be relaunched. They included Krishi Bhagya, ‘Arivu’ for providing education loan up to ₹1 lakh with 2% interest rate, among others.

The Budget set revenue targets of ₹1,01,000 crore for commercial taxes, ₹36,000 crore for Excise, ₹25,000 crore for Stamp and Registration, ₹11,500 crore for Transport, and ₹ 9,000 crore for Mines and Geology departments.

A whopping sum of ₹70,427 crore has been set aside for women and child welfare, ₹34,294 crore for SC and ST sub-plan, and ₹5,000 crore for Kalyana Karnataka.

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