BENGALURU: The Siddaramaiah government is facing the challenge of working out modalities and a mechanism to implement two of the five guarantees the Congress party promised to voters in the run-up to the May 10 Assembly elections.
A final decision on rolling out the guarantees is expected at a cabinet meeting on Friday. The meeting was supposed to be held on Thursday.
The main challenge is to implement ‘Yuva Nidhi’ (Rs 3,000 per month for unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 per month for unemployed diploma holders for two years or until they get a job) and ‘Griha Lakshmi’ (Rs 2,000 per month for every woman head of the family).
Some ministers and officials, who attended the meeting, admitted that the challenge is in identifying genuine beneficiaries.
However, the government is confident of rolling out ‘Gruha Jyothi’ (free power upto 200 units for every household), ‘Anna Bhagya’ (10 kg foodgrains per person in every BPL family) and ‘Shakthi’ (free travel for women in government-run ordinary buses) guarantees.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said ‘Anna Bhagya’ and ‘Shakti’ guarantees could be implemented comfortably.
The government has decided to implement all five guarantees and discussions will be held in this regard at the cabinet meeting on Friday,” Siddaramaiah told reporters after holding a meeting with his cabinet colleagues and officials on Wednesday.
The Finance Department gave a presentation to ministers on the implementation of five guarantees. “The officials also briefed the ministers about the financial implications,” Siddaramaiah said.
The CM estimated that it is likely to cost Rs 50,000 crore annually.
Will have detailed talks tomorrow, says DyCM
However, officials said it could go up to Rs 58,000 crore. But if the government tightens eligibility criteria, the estimation could come down to Rs 35,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore per year, sources said.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said only a mechanism is needed to be evolved to identify the genuine beneficiaries for ‘Yuva Nidhi’ and ‘Gruha Lakshmi’.
He expressed confidence that the guarantees would be rolled out. “The government can manage with June month’s guarantees as the CM is likely to allocate funds in the budget which he is likely to present in the first week of July… The officials have given options on the mechanism of implementation on which the political executive will take a call,” he said.
He said, “We have fixed different slabs for graduates and diploma holders. It is true that we have to distinguish between them. Information will be gathered and their degree certificates verified.” A decision will also be taken on whether the government will go in a phased manner or implement all the guarantees in one go.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, “Finance officials have given their opinion and options. We will study them. We will have a detailed discussion on Friday.” He, however, cautioned people not to pay heed to rumours that the state government will not implement the guarantees.
Sources said issues like fixing certain criteria to select beneficiaries for ‘Yuva Nidhi’ and ‘Griha Lakshmi’ based on their economic status to prevent ‘misuse’ came up for discussions. Clarity on the same is likely on Friday, they added.