Soon after the first cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Karnataka government would implement all the five guarantees announced in the Congress manifesto during the elections. Siddaramaiah said the government was paying Rs 56,000 crore annually towards loans, including principal amount and interest, to implement its many schemes. The government might now need an additional Rs 50,000 crore for the guarantee schemes, which can be done by increasing revenue targets and cutting down on wasteful expenditure, and will not have financial implications, he said.
However, economists say that politics and economics are two different things. They expressed concern over the sustainability of the schemes, and how much they will burden the exchequer. “Ultimately, the amount that will be used to implement the guarantee schemes is the taxpayers’ money. It will be no surprise if state taxes on items increase after some time, and the deficit in the budget increases.
There is no need to give 200 units of free power or Rs 2,000 for all women. Many don’t need it. While it is required to help the economically weak with travel, and youth with money, the government must parallelly make all efforts to ensure they get employment and also empower the downtrodden,” said an economist who is working closely with the government.