BENGALURU: All eyes are on Friday’s cabinet meeting which is all set to take a final decision on the implementation of the five guarantees promised by the Congress government. Leaders of opposition parties are eagerly waiting to see how the guarantees will be implemented. They are keen on knowing whether the guarantees come with riders and the costs involved.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday held a series of meetings with ministers and Finance Department officials, where a framework has been evolved regarding selection of beneficiaries, sources said. It was agreed that there would be no compromise on implementation of the guarantees.
The bigger challenges are implementing ‘Griha Lakshmi’ (Rs 2,000 per month for every woman head of the family) and ‘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 employed). Developing mobile applications for beneficiaries to put in place a fool-proof mechanism for the implementation of guarantees was deliberated upon.
However, it remains to be seen whether the cabinet approves implementation of all five guarantees at one go or only three -- ‘Griha Jyothi’ (200 units of free electricity), ‘Shakti’ (free travel for women in ordinary government buses), and ‘Anna Bhagya’ (10 kg foodgrains for every member of a BPL family).
A decision has to be taken on whether ‘Griha Jyothi’ would be rolled out only for 1.27 BPL households or all 2.14 crore households in the state. Pertaining to this, Energy Minister KJ Geroge held meetings with Siddaramaiah.
Priyank suggests riders to aid poor
Siddaramaiah, who held a meeting on Wednesday with ministers and some top officials, postponed the cabinet meeting from Thursday to Friday, considering the modalities to be worked out before rolling out the guarantees. Details about the precise number of beneficiaries, especially for ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ and ‘Yuva Nidhi’, have to be worked out to avoid any misuse.
Siddaramaiah’s cabinet colleagues, including Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge, suggested that there should be some criteria so that genuine beneficiaries could be selected. “Which scheme in the country doesn’t have criteria? The very objective of welfare schemes is to help the needy,” Priyank Kharge said, indicating that certain conditions may be applied for people to enjoy the benefits of guarantees.
The government is trying its best to keep the cost of all five guarantees within Rs 50,000 crore per annum. But, according to sources, if the government takes a generous approach, the cost could rise to Rs 57,000 crore per annum. And if strict yardsticks are imposed, it could fall to Rs 47,000 crore.