CM Siddaramaiah Presents Karnataka State Budget 2023: Know About Key Allocations

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah while presenting the 14th budget in Bengaluru's Vidhana Soudha announced that the excise duty on liquor has been hiked by 20 per cent. The additional excise duty (AED) on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) has also been hiked by 20%. For beer, the AED has been hiked by 10 per cent taking it 185 per cent from 175 per cent. The Chief Minister has levied 20 per cent on all 18 slabs of excise.

Siddaramaiah, who is presenting his seventh state budget, announced a state budget of ₹ 3,27,747 crore, of which ₹ 2,50,933 crore has been allocated for revenue expenditure, Rs 54,374 crore for capital expenditure and ₹ 22,441 crore for loan repayment.

He also announced allocations for various sectors, including ₹ 37,587 crores for Education and ₹ 24,166 crores for Women and Child Development, which makes up 11 per cent and 7 per cent of the total budget allocation, respectively. The government has proposed to allocate ₹14,950 crores, which is about 4 per cent of the total allocation, for Health and Family welfare.

Fund Allocations Across Various Sectors

Addressing fund allocations for the five poll guarantees of the Congress party, Siddaramaiah said around ₹ 52,000 crore will be spent annually. He also said the guarantees are expected to benefit 1.3 crore families.

While presenting the 2023-2024 budget, he said through the five 'guarantees' (poll promises), the government will be providing an average additional financial assistance of ₹ 4,000 to ₹ 5,000 a month to each household, as per a report in Economic Times.

These guarantees encompass various welfare measures, including 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), free distribution of 10 kg of rice to every member of a Below Poverty Line (BPL) household (Anna Bhagya), a monthly allowance of ₹ 3,000 for unemployed graduate youth, and ₹1,500 for unemployed diploma holders between the ages of 18 and 25 for a duration of two years (YuvaNidhi), as well as free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).

Elaborating on the guarantees, Siddaramaiah said the Anna Bhagya scheme, under which every member of a below poverty line (BPL) household would get 10 kg of free rice, got an allottment of ₹ 10,000 crore annually. The scheme is expected to benefit 4.42 crore beneficiaries.

He added that the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which provides ₹ 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family, will be allocated an amount of ₹ 24,166 crore for this fiscal.

Bengaluru Urban City's Development

CM Siddaramaiah added that ₹ 30,000 crore has been allotted to the BMRCL's Namma Metro, to further developments in a bid to ease Bengaluru's ongoing traffic issues. Besides, an amount of ₹ 45,000 crore for the development works around the capital city.

Under this, total expenditure is estimated to be ₹3,27,747 crores which includes Revenue Expenditure at ₹2,50,933 crores, Capital Expenditure at ₹54,374 crores and loan repayment at ₹22,441 crore It is the second budget of the 2023-24 fiscal year and is expected to outline the specific allocation required to fulfil the five pre-poll guarantees made by the Congress party. This is 11% and 7% respectively of the total budget allocation. ₹14,950 Crores - 4% of the total allocation - allocated for Health and Family welfare.

This budget holds significance as it is the first since the Congress party assumed power in the state after the May 10 election. The budget will also prioritize strategies for increasing revenue generation. Notably, this will be Siddaramaiah's seventh budget as Chief Minister, having previously presented six budgets during his tenure from 2013 to 2018. Additionally, this budget will mark his 14th budget attendance overall.

"We are dependent upon sculptors from other states for temple construction," Siddaramaiah said as he announced sculptor training centre in Kolar district of Karnataka to nurture expert temple sculptors.

Siddaramaiah also addressed the menace of fake mark certificates and said that to deal with the problem, the government would make it mandatory for students of higher education in the state to get registered in the 'Academic Bank of Credits' and access marks cards and education certificates from the National Academic Depository/Digilocker.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah attacked the National Education Policy (NEP) saying it is incompatible with the federal system and has several anomalies that undermine the Constitution and democracy.

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