Bengaluru: The biggest challenge for the Congress government is the implementation of 5 guarantees schemes. However, it is struggling to keep up the word. Therefore, the Congress Government has taken it up as a challenge that they will implement five guarantees.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has already discussed all the pros and cons with the officials. There will be a consultation with the Minister May 31, and it is said that it is almost certain that the 5 guarantees will be implemented from June 1. The Government is saying that they will give Rs 2000 every month to the housewives under the Grulahakshmi Yojana. Information is being collected through Anganwadi workers to identify who is the house owner.
Opposition BJP questioned whether the landlady is mother-in-law or daughter-in-law. Thus there is a possibility of declaring the house owner as the beneficiary.
We have to keep our word to the people of the state. The Lok Sabha elections are also approaching. Keeping all this in mind, the state government is trying to implement 5 guarantee scheme, CM said.
Just on May 29, CM Siddaramaiah held an important meeting with officials at Shakti Bhavan, Bengaluru. Officials of Transport, Food, Women and Child Welfare Department, Skill Development, Energy Department participated in the meeting. How much money does it cost to implement a guarantee plan? What is the number of beneficiaries? He collected information about how much it would burden the Government.
The implementation of the 5 guarantee schemes announced by the Congress is a big challenge. 5 guarantees should be implemented i.e. Rs. 50000 Crore annually from the government treasury has to be spent. In this regard, the CM received information from Finance Department Principal Secretary Prasad. He also discussed how guarantees can be enforced.
It is said that 5 guarantees will be implemented across the state from June 1 itself. Officials have already given detailed information about how much money will be spent on any project. Siddaramaiah Government Cabinet meeting will be held on June 1. CM Siddaramaiah will present all the information and statistics given by the officials before the Cabinet. It is being said that there is a possibility of putting the final stamp on the guarantees in the same meeting.
Information about housewives is not adequate anymore. The challenge for Congress is to collect information about housewives. Thus it is possible to provide Grulahakshmi guarantee to BPL families with conditions. However, the Congress, which had announced to give 2000 to every housewife in the state, seems to be under pressure to keep its word.
There is again a problem of information for the implementation of youth fund, and the Congress leaders are facing a tough road to eliminate the unemployment of graduates. There is confusion whether the information should be collected through the Department of Labour or the information should be obtained through the Department of Higher Education, and it is difficult to identify the unemployed graduates. Therefore, there is a possibility of inviting applications from the Government after setting some criteria, and transferring money to the beneficiaries through the prescribed department is a big challenge.
Food Minister K. H. Muniyappa has said that we will give 10 kg of free rice. However, the implementation of Annabhagya Yojana has challenges. At present, the Central Government is giving 5 kg of rice free of charge. Now the challenge is that the state Government has to purchase an additional 5 kg of rice.
The Government is saying that they will give everyone 10 kg of rice for free. But for the purchase of rice, approximately 1400 Crore rupees have to be spent. If any condition is placed on the 5 kg rice provided by the Central Government, the problem may become more complicated for the state Congress Government. Also, the opposition is insisting on giving 10 kg apart from the Central Government’s 5 kg, and the Congress is calculating to give rice based on the information of BPL families.
The Government is thinking of setting a travel limit for the free bus pass issue. In this regard, the CM collected information from the officials in the meeting held. It has been suggested to give the list of free bus pass beneficiaries. Now Transport Minister Ramalingareddy has called a meeting of transport corporations to discuss the pros and cons. The meeting will be held today at 1.00 pm at the KSRTC Office in Shantinagar, Bengaluru.
The MDs of all the four corporations of the state including Karnataka Transport, North-West, North-East, South-West Transport and BMTC will participate in the meeting.
Since the free bus pass scheme is Government owned, the Government has to give subsidy of free bus pass to all the four corporations. Officials have already informed the Government that it is not possible to provide bus pass with the income of corporations. Should the Government give so much money to the project after observing the profit and loss of 4 corporations? In what format should the free pass be? Month pass? An annual pass? There will also be a discussion.
In general, it is said that the implementation of 5 guarantees is almost certain from June 1, but it remains to be seen what conditions will be imposed for this.