Bengaluru: The Congress government in Karnataka on Wednesday presented its last full-budget before the state goes to the polls in May 2018. The Siddaramaiah government seems to have taken inspiration from populist schemes in other states and other governments like in Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
Here are the highlights:
- Huge grants to OBC, SC and ST communities who form the largest chunk of Karnataka's population. Over Rs 6,000 crore allocated for different programmes, subsidies and incentives
- Almost equal allocations to rural and urban development. Focus on Bangalore stands out
- 'Namma’ canteen on the lines of Amma canteen in Tamil Nadu will provide breakfast, lunch and dinner at affordable price. One canteen would be located in every ward of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Similarly, Saviruchi mobile canteens would be launched in 30 districts
- Free laptops to 1.5 lakh students getting into engineering, medical, polytechnic and first-grade colleges
- LPG connections to 2 lakh BPL families of SC/ST communities; additional incentives and LPG connections to about 5 lakh poor families to those not covered by central schemes
- Up to 10,000 litres of free water supply to urban poor (those living in homes built on plots less than 600 square feet land)
- Government to work towards 100% reservation to Kannadigas in private sector Group C and D jobs (clerical or lower jobs) — so all these jobs are to be reserved for Kannadigas
- Importance of English education getting recognized. Grants for effective English language teaching from Class I, and IT education in high schools and colleges
- A new program Yuva Yuga will be implemented to train 1.1 lakh persons in IT, electronics, animation and other sectors by pooling funds from grants of Centre
- Food grains being distributed under Anna Bhagya scheme (PDS distribution at subsidised rates) will be increased from 5 to 7 kg per person
- Eggs twice a week for children in anganwadis; hot, cooked meals for pregnant and lactating mothers from July
- In 2017-18, 10 lakes to be developed at cost of Rs 42 crore. Infamous Bellandur and Varthur lakes known for their contamination and frothing will be developed
- One time incentive of 2 lakh each to students from minority and OBC community who make it to premier institutes like IIM, IIT, IISc etc
- Grants for renovation of Gurdwaras
- Rs 175 crore to be provided to Christian community for "development" purposes
- Ban on two-stroke autos from April to reduce air and noise pollution. These are to be replaced with 10,000, 4-stroke LPG-enabled auto rickshaws for which subsidies to be given to auto owners
- Rs 26,000 crore for second phase of 72 km of Bangalore Metro; phase 1 of 42.3 km to be completed in April
- To regulate multiplexes by making maximum entry fee at Rs 200
- Tech-based apps for early response to crimes against women and children
Comments
0 comment