Congress won on 5 vows, now aim for public good
Almost all of Karnataka is waiting for the implementation of the five guarantees promised by the Congress high command during the poll campaign—without a doubt one of the main factors that returned the party to power with a thumping victory where it won more than twice the number of seats than the BJP.
The party's high command had announced that if voted to power, the newly elected Congress government would approve the implementation of the five guarantees in the first cabinet meeting. Siddaramaiah did just that on Saturday immediately after the swearing-in ceremony when the newly inducted 10-member cabinet he now heads met for the first time.
The promised schemes are—Gruha Jyothi (200 power units free to every household); Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 to every woman head of a family); Anna Bhagya (10 kg rice every month to every member of BPL family); Yuva Nidhi (Rs 3,000 per month to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders in the 18–25 age group for two years); and Shakti (free travel for women in state corporation buses across Karnataka).
These may cost the government Rs 50,000 crore per year. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is confident about raising the amount to support the schemes. Expectedly, in some parts of the state, people whose homes have consumed less than 200 units of power have already refused to pay their electricity bills. They hope to make the most of the Gruha Jyothi guarantee. Why pay when freebies are coming your way?
But there are concerns, especially about schemes like Gruha Lakshmi and Yuva Nidhi, which involve direct benefit transfer. Will the intended beneficiaries really benefit? Gruha Lakshmi in a patriarchal society could compromise the benefits intended for the women heads of households, with the money possibly being used for wrong purposes by the men in the house. The dole for unemployed graduates and diploma holders under Yuva Nidhi raises similar concerns of potential misuse linked to the effects of lack of employment.
The new government, still in its formative stages, may do well to remember that the democratic principle of the welfare state holds those in power accountable to the people and that the government is, at best, a facilitator of the public good. While eyeing a poll victory when promising the guarantees, the new government now needs to convert its words into actions.