Rs 35,410 crore required for guarantee schemes, resources will be mobilised in the budget: Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru, July 21 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that people are happy about his government's guarantee schemes, which require Rs 35,410 crore funding, and action has also been taken to mobilise resources in the budget.

Replying to the debate on the budget in the Legislative Council, he said that Rs 34,654 crores resources will be mobilised for guarantee schemes which includes Rs 13,500 crore additional tax collection, additional loan of Rs 8,068 crore, Rs. 6,086 crore through re-prioritisation of capital investment, and Rs 7,000 crores through re-prioritisation of revenue projects.

These guarantee schemes, which put money into the pockets of people who were hit by price hikes, are inspired by Universal Basic Income programes in developed countries, he said.

Noting that 90 per cent of people pay tax and 10 per cent enjoy tax benefits, the Chief Minister said that the guarantee schemes have been implemented with the objective of fair distribution of resources.

The budget size of the state is Rs 3,26,747 crore, which is 22 per cent more than the budget size of 2022-23. Fiscal deficit is 2.6 per cent, and the debt rate is 22 per cent of GSDP.

"Hence our government has followed two criteria to maintain fiscal discipline under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. This time, a deficit budget of Rs 15,523 crore was presented due to guarantee schemes. The deficit has been reduced when compared to previous years. Every effort will be made to present a revenue surplus budget next time," he said, clarifying that the state is not bankrupt.

"Our government is making a sincere effort to fulfill our promises. 76 programmes mentioned in the manifesto have been announced in the budget along with the implementation of guarantee schemes. Around 50 lakh women are travelling under Shakti scheme every day. A total of 23 crore passengers have availed this facility," he said.

As many 1.16 crore families have already registered under the Griha Jyoti scheme and free electricity facility up to 200 units will be available from July 1.

Siddaramaiah also said that additional food grains were not provided by the Central government. Hence Rs 170 per beneficiary is being transferred to 4.42 crore beneficiaries under Annabhagya scheme. Rs.337.08 crore has been transferred to 57.51 families so far.

He said that Rs 32,000 crores annually and Rs 18,000 crore is required for the current year for the Griha Lakshmi scheme. The Yuva Nidhi scheme is expected to start from the month of December. Skill development of unemployed youth will also be emphasised.

The Chief Minister recalled on the occasion that a separate department for skill development in the state was started during the previous tenure of his government.

"During 2013-18, our government had implemented various programmes with a budget of Rs 7.27 lakh crore . 14,54,663 houses were built during our previous tenure whereas only 5,19,464 houses were built by the previous BJP government. Similarly, 14,169 km of road was upgraded when compared to 8,139 km by the BJP government."

He said that 696 hostel buildings were constructed during his previous tenure, when compared to 47 hostel buildings by the previous government.

He also said that the investigation into the Bitcoin scam, PSI recruitment scam, Covid equipment/drug procurement scam etc. of the previous government has already started.