Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented his record 15th Budget as Finance Minister, marking the second under the current Congress regime. Addressing the Karnataka Assembly, he underscored his government’s commitment to establish a new standard of development, dubbed the ‘Karnataka Model of Development.’ This model is anchored in the principles of justice, equality and fraternity enshrined in the Constitution.
Here are the key highlights:
Agriculture:
1) Siddaramaiah announced the implementation of the ‘Karnataka Raitha Samruddhi Yojane’ to promote integrated farming by consolidating various pro-farmer schemes.
2) He also announced the establishment of the Agriculture Development Authority to facilitate the effective implementation of policies related to agriculture and allied activities across various departments.
3) The establishment of food parks at airports in Sogane of Shivamogga, Ittangihala of Vijayapura, and Poojanahalli of Bengaluru Rural district.
Horticulture:
1) Setting up Kisan Malls in select districts to provide farmers with horticulture-related technical guidance, market connectivity, farming implements, and agro-products under one roof.
2) Establishing a state-of-the-art international floriculture market in Bengaluru city under Public-Private Partnership.
Animal Husbandry:
1) Construction of new buildings for 200 veterinary institutions which are in dilapidated condition, at a cost of Rs 100 crore.
Fisheries:
1) Allocation of Rs 7 crore for the purchase of sea ambulances for the protection of fishermen.
2) Providing financial assistance to 10,000 houseless fishermen for the construction of houses under various housing schemes.
Co-operation:
1) Setting a target of providing a record crop loan of Rs 27,000 crore to more than 36 lakh farmers in the state.
2) Urging the Centre to announce MSP for important crops such as arecanut, onion, grapes, mango, banana, and other horticultural crops and to fix MSP based on the formula of cost of cultivation plus 50 percent profit as per the report by the Swaminathan panel.
Water resource:
1) Implementing a Rs 365 crore project to flow water from Bhima and Kagina Rivers to Bennethora reservoir to provide drinking water to Kalaburagi city.
School Education and Literacy:
1) Converting 2000 Government Primary Schools into bilingual medium schools to enhance the quality of education.
2) Imparting NEET/JEE/CET coaching to 20,000 science students of Government PU Colleges.
Higher Education Department:
1) Allocating Rs 100 crore to develop University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering on the lines of IIT.
2) Allocating Rs 30 crore to upgrade 30 women’s colleges and government women’s polytechnics.
Health:
1) Allocating Rs 187 crore to construct critical care block buildings in seven districts.
2) Establishing 50 new blood storage units in North Karnataka within the next two years.
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Medical Education:
1) Allocating Rs 20 crore for a robotic surgery facility in the Institute of Nephro-Urology in Bengaluru.
2) Creating a health repository under the Digital Health Society to make treatment details available from a single source.
Woman and Child Development:
1) Allocating Rs 28,608 crore for the Gruhalakshmi guarantee scheme.
2) Spending Rs 90 crore to provide 75,938 smartphones to Anganwadi workers and supervisors.
3) Allocating Rs 200 crore to construct 1,000 Anganwadis.
4) Enhancing the Pension under Maithri scheme for linguistic minorities from Rs 800 to Rs 1,200.
Social Welfare:
1) Increasing the monthly food allowance by Rs 100 per student for students studying in residential schools and hostels under the social welfare, tribal welfare, backward classes, and minority welfare departments.
2) Establishing a corpus fund of Rs 35 crore to cover the cost of treatment for rare diseases and expensive treatments for SC and ST communities.
Scheduled Tribe Welfare:
1) Renaming the Ashram schools working under the Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department as Maharshi Valmiki Adivasi Budakattu Vasathi Shale. Starting Class 6 & 8 in schools with Class 5 and 7 respectively, with the student strength enhanced from 25 to 40 in each class.
2) Providing a stipend of Rs 15,000 to 200 engineering graduates who got admission to IISc, IIT, and NIT for short-term professional training courses.
Minorities Welfare:
1) Allocating Rs 50 crore for Jain pilgrimage centers and Rs 200 crore for the development of the Christian community.
2) Allocating Rs 2 crore for the welfare of the Sikligar Sikh community and Rs 1 crore to the gurudwara in Bidar.
3) Allocating Rs 10 crore to encourage minority women SHGs to take up self-employment activities.
Housing:
1) Setting a target for the construction of three lakh houses this year.
Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs:
1) Transferring Rs 4,595 crore to 4.02 crore beneficiaries under Annabhagya till January 2024.
2) Launching the Anna-Suvidha program to facilitate senior citizens above the age of 80 by the door delivery of food grains.
Skill Development:
1) Establishing Café Sanjeevini, rural canteens, and 2,500 coffee kiosks for women.
2) Developing 50,000 Women SHG owned micro-enterprises in the next two years.
Rural Development and Panchayath Raj:
1) Installing solar street lights in 50 panchayats and implementing systematic metering in 200 panchayats to reduce electricity charges.
2) Encouraging a circular economy for sustainable solid waste management in rural areas.
3) Increasing the monthly incentive to freed persons from the bonded labor system to Rs 2,000.
Urban Development:
1) Launching Brand Bengaluru to develop Bengaluru as a world-class city.
2) Easing traffic congestion by completing white topping works, constructing tunnels in Hebbal Junction on a pilot basis, and installing Area Traffic Signal Control System in 28 important junctions of the city.
3) Developing the Peripheral ring road as the Bengaluru Business Corridor under a new concept.
4) Constructing a 250-meter tall sky-deck in Bengaluru city.
5) Expanding the Bengaluru Metro Rail network by 44 km by March 2025.
6) Conducting feasibility reports to extend Metro to Tumkur from BIEC and to Devanahalli from KIAL.
7) Adding 1,334 new electric buses and 820 BS VI diesel buses to the fleet of buses in BMTC.
8) Commissioning the Cauvery Stage 5 project at a cost of Rs 5,550 crore to provide drinking water to 12 lakh people by May 2024.
9) Extending the curbs on businesses during night time until 1 am in Bengaluru and 10 city corporations in the state.
10) Developing towns on the outskirts of Bengaluru such as Devanahalli, Nelamangala, Hosakote, Doddaballapura, Magadi, and Bidadi as satellite towns with road and train connectivity.
Energy:
1) Registering 1.65 crore consumers under the Gruha Jyoti Scheme.
2) Solarizing 4.30 lakh IP sets under Phase II of solarization of IP set feeder, implementing solar projects of 1,192 MW.
PWD:
1) Developing 875 km of state highways at a cost of Rs 5,736 crore with the assistance of external financial institutes under KSHIP-4 in the current year.
2) Constructing six railway overbridges at a cost of Rs 350 crore.
3) Taking action to construct dedicated economic corridors from Mangaluru port to Bengaluru and Bidar to Bengaluru.
Commerce and Industries:
1) Allocating a grant of Rs 50 crore for supplemental infrastructure to the mega textile park project established in Kalburgi district in collaboration with the state and central government.
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Kannada and Culture:
1) Allocating a grant of Rs one crore to undertake literature survey, collection, publication, and propagation programs including Tatvapada, Keerthana Sahitya, and Bhakti movement through Saint Poet Kanakadasa Study Centre.
2) Ensuring that 60 percent of signage is in Kannada in the nameplates of all offices, shops, and various commercial enterprises under the Kannada Language Comprehensive development act.
Forest, Ecology, and Environment:
1) Taking measures to address man-animal conflict, including the formation of one new task force in Bandipur this year. Allocation of Rs 10 crore to strengthen these task forces.
Excise:
1) Revising the IML and beer slab by rationalizing the declared slabs of liquor.
