BENGALURU: Presenting his maiden budget on Thursday amid very high expectations, especially from rural masses, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who is also the FM (finance minister) is set to walk the talk on farm loan waiver, but with conditions galore.
The budget will have many a gift for other segments of the society too apart from the farming community.
Heading the party with the symbol of a farm woman carrying a haystack, Kumaraswamy’s budget has a few novel programmes to reach out to them.
The big-ticket promise of paying Rs 6,000 per month stipend for poor pregnant women for six months — three months before delivery and three months after the delivery —- is being implemented in the very first budget of the coalition government.
However, severe resource constraints have pushed another big ticket promise of paying Rs 8,000 monthly allowances for senior citizens into the zone of uncertainty. But the Chief Minister could still have his way by announcing the programme with a Rs 2,000 monthly allowance to start with and bolster it subsequently with an annual increase of Rs 1,000 during his five-year term.
As for the much-debated farm loan waiver, it will come with the tag “conditions apply”. The waiver is almost certain to have a maximum limit of Rs 2 lakh or Rs 3 lakh. “The government servants, elected representatives like MLAs, MLCs, MPs and members of panchayat bodies and also the farmers who are under the Income Tax net with non-agricultural income will not be eligible for the loan waiver,” said an official who is closely involved in preparing the budget.
The free sanitary napkin programme for girls in government high schools is likely to be extended to colleges and polytechnics. The budget is also likely to reduce or even abolish tax on sanitary napkins. Women cops may also have reason to celebrate as a proposal for a special allowance for them is also said to have been incorporated in the budget.
According to a member of the Common Minimum Programme drafting committee, the budget is likely to have proposals to provide free bus passes for schoolchildren, setting up of Israeli model farm in Mandya or Uttara Kannada to implement modern farm methods with emphasis on water conservation and a major initiative for the upgradation of services at government hospitals.
With very limited scope for imposing fresh taxes under the GST regime, the Chief Minister is likely to make tipplers and smokers to shell out more to mobilise additional resources.
Film City at Ramanagara
The CM is unveiling a special gift for people of his Ramanagaram constituency with the Ramanagaram Film City project that seeks to provide job opportunities for about one lakh persons when it is completed.
The budget is also likely to offer special incentives for the garment sector which is a big source of employment for women and also more incentives for the micro and small industrial sector. Setting up of a Skills Development University as part of addressing the unemployment problem has also been incorporated in the budget, sources said.
Though there is a buzz about cut in grants for some of the welfare programmes launched by the previous Siddaramaiah government, the coalition government will ensure required funds for ‘Anna Bhagya’ and ‘Ksheera Bhagya’, the programmes for free distribution of rice for Below Poverty Line families and serving of milk for children in government schools.
The ‘Krishi Honda’ (farm ponds) programme to recharge the underground water table is another programme of the Siddaramaiah government which will get a boost as Kumaraswamy has realised its benefit to farmers, especially in the drought-prone regions.
What Bengaluru city can expect
■ Rejuvenation of lakes with concrete plans for Bellandur and Varthur lakes.
■ A significant increase in allocation for a Metro project to speed up works; construction of more flyovers and underpasses.
■ Developing a satellite township near Ramanagaram to decongest Bengaluru.
■ Setting up of modern waste-to-energy plants around Bengaluru to address the challenge of garbage disposal.