Karnataka CM woos caste groups in maiden budget

Stepping into an election year, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday appeared to woo several caste groups with allocations of upto Rs 760 crore towards welfare schemes while also keeping farmers and women in focus with new schemes for them in his maiden state budget.

The CM also announced a Rs 8,409 crore comprehensive development plan for Bengaluru which includes widening storm water drains, finalising the third phase of the metro rail and a 73 km peripheral ring road to decongest the city.

With the tone of a please-all budget, Bommai didn’t announce any new taxes and said that tax collection targets will be achieved by ensuring that the departments perform better. The state’s fiscal deficit is expected to be at 3.26 percent of gross state domestic product.

This is Bommai’s first budget since taking over as chief minister in July 2021 and also the last full budget for the state’s ruling BJP as assembly elections are due in May 2023.

The CM allocated Rs 100 crore each for welfare schemes for the state’s two biggest communities – Lingayats and Vokkaligas – through development corporations that had been set up in the previous year.

“The Veerashaiva Lingayatha Development Corporation and Vokkaligara Development Corporation have already been announced and schemes will be formulated at a cost of Rs 100 crore each in the current year,” he announced in his speech.

Besides, Rs 400 crore has been set aside for schemes for various backward and most backward communities through corporations established for their development, he said.

Development schemes totalling Rs 50 crore each will also be implemented through the Maratha Development Corporation, Christian Development Corporation and a similar allocation was made for the Jain, Sikh and Buddhist communities. “Developmental works will be taken up for the welfare of Kodava community at a cost of Rs 10 crore,” he said.

Also read: Karnataka Budget: Caste groups, ‘rebel ministers’ get the lion’s share

Bommai also announced a Rs 500 crore diesel subsidy scheme in which subsidy of Rs 250 per acre (subject to a maximum of 5 acres) will be directly transferred to farmers in a bid to reduce fuel expenditure burden and encourage farm mechanisation. The budget’s total allocation for agriculture and allied activities stands at Rs 33,700 crore.

Meanwhile, the allocation of grants for women empowerment and welfare in the Budget is pegged at Rs 43,188 crore. The CM announced grants to self help groups (SHGs) run by women, single window loan facility through commercial banks and marketing facilities for products developed by SHGs.

The budget also announced an increase in honorarium to Asha workers, Grama Sahayakas, mid-day-meal cooks and helpers, anganawadi workers and a hardship allowance of Rs 2,000 per month to pourakarmikas, or sweepers employed by municipalities and city corporations.

Bommai also made a bid to counter the opposition’s campaign for the Mekedatu dam project near Bengaluru by announcing a Rs 1000 crore allocation for the project – his budget announcement comes just a day after the Congress concluded a 170 km padayatra demanding that the drinking water project be implemented immediately. The dam project, which faces opposition from Tamil Nadu, is pending clearance from the Centre.

Congress state president D K Shivakumar, who organised the padayatra, welcomed the allocation for the Mekedatu programme saying the government was reacting to their campaign. “But it is worth noting that the government has not yet implemented programmes totalling Rs 7795 crore announced for Bangalore in last year’s budget. Therefore, the Rs 1,000 crore allocation for the this project should not remain merely as an assurance,” Shivakumar said in a tweet on Friday.