This budget delivers

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah delivered his 14th budget, the first after the Congress’s spectacular electoral mandate. His immense experience has enabled him to provide a budget that balances the Congress’s commitment to its Five Guarantees with fiscal responsibility. The budget balances the needs of growth engine Bengaluru with the priorities of farmers and disadvantaged sections.

The budget allocates Rs 35,410 crore toward the Guarantees – free bus travel for women, a Rs 2000 allowance to women heads of households below the poverty line (BPL), free electricity up to 200 units per month, an unemployment allowance for youth, and 10 kg rice per person per month in BPL households. More than 1 crore families of Karnataka’s 1.6 crore families will secure a strong social safety net. This makes Karnataka the first state to implement a close approximation of a Universal Basic Income for a large proportion of its citizens, as had been promised under the NYAY scheme in the Congress’ 2019 Lok Sabha manifesto.

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Finetuning the criteria for eligibility for the Guarantees makes the task of implementing them easier. For example, the unemployment allowance will be available only to those who graduated in the last year. The scheme for cash transfer for women, Gruha Lakshmi, will have two simple screening parameters -- it excludes income tax and/or GST payees. The extra resources needed are to come from an increase in excise duties on liquor and beer, and from stiffer targets for the commercial taxes, stamps and registration and the transport departments.

For those technically minded, the budget estimates a revenue deficit that is lower than the budgeted estimates of the last year, and the accounted-for estimates of 2021-22. The projected fiscal deficit is 2.6% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), within the 3% fiscal responsibility limit. This deficit is lesser in this Congress budget as against previous budgets and revised estimates of the last two years under the BJP. The fiscal responsibility act permits overall liabilities to be 25% of GSDP; this budget projects these at 22.3%.

Another testament to the Congress’ focus on improving the lives of weaker sections is the increase of Rs 4079 crore in allocations toward the SC sub-plan and ST sub-plan, compared to the previous government’s. Disadvantaged sections and minorities have been allocated resources to enhance education and skilling to make them more workplace-ready. Another interesting measure is an effort to enhance English skills through a partnership with the British government.

Gig workers get a Rs 4 lakh health and accident insurance package, as promised in the party’s manifesto. Anganwadi, ASHA workers, transgenders, mid-day meal-makers, and former Devadasis have been granted eligibility for the monthly Rs 2000 allowance. Various student benefits and scholarships have also been revived. Egg, chikki, and banana are now to be provided to more students twice a week, compared to once a week earlier.

Conscious of the pressures faced by farmers, the government has relaunched the Krishi Bhagya scheme focused on providing dryland areas with irrigation and rainwater harvesting to increase productivity. It has made a renewed commitment toward the Mekedatu and Yettinahole projects. Rs 580 crore has been allocated to fill 296 lakes in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.

High-tech harvester hubs are to be set up across the state through the Custom Hiring Centres -- Krishi Yantra Dhare – set up by the previous Siddaramaiah government. Cold storages have been funded. Efforts will be made to provide Nandini-like branding to products of farmer producer organisations. Improved markets for silk and for inland fisheries and reduced interest loans round out the focus on rural Karnataka. Importantly, the government has categorically repealed anti-farmer legislation like the previous government’s APMC Act amendments, which weakened small and marginal farmers.

Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar’s focus on “Brand Bengaluru, Better Bengaluru” gets a boost through an allocation of Rs 45,000 crore. These funds include Rs 15,000 crore for enhanced metro connectivity through a new 37-km route from Hebbal to Sarjapur, and a further allocation of Rs 1,000 crore toward the much-awaited suburban rail project. Road infrastructure gets funds for white-topping and flyovers. More funds have been allocated toward solid waste management and sewage treatment plants. Indira Canteens will be revived with a fresh menu, thus helping the urban poor.

Healthcare gets a significant boost. Chitradurga gets a medical college and Mysuru and Kalaburagi get trauma centres; Kalaburagi also gets a Rs 70-crore maternity and children’s hospital; and Rs 92 crore has been allocated for dialysis centres across Karnataka. Unique schemes like the Brain Health Initiative have been expanded in association with NIMHANS. To prevent untimely deaths, like that of the much-adored Puneeth Rajkumar, funds have been allocated for defibrillators in district and taluk hospitals to cope with cardiac arrests.

Overall, this budget has been able to maintain Siddaramaiah’s reputation for fiscally prudent and financially sound budgets, while delivering on the promised Guarantees.

(The writer is a former Congress MP and is currently Chairman of the party’s Research Department. )