On Friday, February 16, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is also responsible for Finance, unveiled the state budget. The Siddaramaiah government set aside Rs 100 crore for waqf properties, Rs 200 crore for the Christian community, and Rs 20 crore for pilgrimage sites amid opposition attacks on the Congress over appeasement.
Siddaramaiah announced the opening of 100 Maulana Azad schools throughout the state and set aside Rs 10 crore for the construction of Haj Bhavan in Mangalore during the presentation of his 15th budget at Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru.
The chief minister also announced that the translation of the Buddhist community’s sacred texts, known as “Tripitakas,” into Kannada will take place, with the necessary funding provided.
The Karnataka State budget for 2024–25 is estimated to spend a total of Rs 3,71,383 crore, compared to a revised estimate of Rs 3,12,708 crore for 2023–24.
ENERGY SECTOR GETS RS 23,159 CRORE
After facing the power deficit last year, Siddaramaiah allocated Rs 23,159 crore to the Energy sector in the budget. “more allocation to the sector to make Karnataka a pioneer in the sector again,” the Chief Minister said.
The government will also set up solar parks in Bengaluru’s civic agency offices like BBMP, BMRCL, BDA and BWSSB.
’50 WOMEN RUN CAFES TO BE OPENED’
The Chief Minister also announced that 50 women-owned cafes operating under the brand Cafe Sanjeevini will open in the State this year for a total of Rs 7.50 crore. “These canteens will fill the gap in the market for affordable, hygienic, cooked food and traditional local fare that exists in rural areas,” he said.
STRESS ON TOURISM
In order to fully utilize the State’s tourism potential, the government has also announced that the Tourism Policy for 2024–2029 will be revised in order to draw in more visitors and investors. “Rs 100 crore will be provided to develop tourism in Anjanadri Hills and surrounding areas of Koppal district, as these areas hold mythological and historical significance,” the chief minister stated.
The government of Karnataka also made the decision to build cable car systems in ten popular tourist locations and set up interpretation centers in Kabini and Bandipur. In addition, Siddaramaiah disclosed plans to build a Mysuru outlying road.
MORE HOSPITALS IN STATE
The CM said Mysuru will get a state-of-the-art Nephrology hospital with a hundred-bed capacity. Further, Kodagu Institute of medical sciences will get Viral Research & Diagnostic Laboratory.
Famous pilgrimage centre Sringeri will also finally get a Taluk hospital.
ON TAX DEVOLUTION
Siddaramaiah also mentioned the tax devolution issue and noted that while introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Union Government had assured that there would be growth of 14 per cent and states would be compensated in case of shortage in revenue growth.
‘GROWTH IN GST IN 2024’
“At a projected growth rate of 14 per cent, it was estimated that the GST tax collection would be Rs. 4,92,296 crore from 2017 to 2023-24. However, only Rs 3,26,764 crore GST revenue was collected and against the GST shortfall of Rs. 1,65,532 crore, the Central Government had released Rs 1,06,258 crore as compensation to the state. Hence, a loss of Rs 59,274 crore was incurred by the state due to unscientific implementation of GST in the last seven years,” he said.
As per the Chief Minister, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Karnataka is estimated to grow 6.6 per cent in 2023-24.
“The service sector is expected to grow by 8.7 per cent, industry 7.5 per cent. However, the agriculture sector has contracted by 1.5 per cent due to the failure of the monsoon and drought in the State…GST collection grew by 18 per cent in 2023-24, and is expected to grow by a further 12 per cent in the next fiscal year,” Siddaramaiah said.
ATTACK ON BJP-LED CENTRE
Siddaramaiah also attacked the NDA government in the Centre and said that under the NDA government, inequality has increased, forcing the State government to take measures for equitable distribution of resources.
“Our guarantee schemes are not an election gimmick. These schemes have been designed based on the feedback from people during the Bharat Jodo Yatra taken out by our party…Our opponents have been calling them “freebies” while also ironically trying to project them as their own guarantees on the ground,” he said.
ALLOCATION TO GUARANTEE SCHEMES
In the budget for 2024–25, the Congress government also set aside Rs 52,000 crore for the implementation of five guarantee schemes: Shakti, Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi, Yuva Nidhi, and Anna Bhagya.
Although Siddaramaiah did not raise taxes, he did present a budget with a revenue deficit that may have been the first in a year due to net borrowings exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore.
MINORITY PUSH IN BUDGET
The Chief Minister declared that fee reimbursement for minority students attending public and private colleges to pursue bachelor’s degrees in science or nursing will once again be offered by the government. Additionally, the government announced a 6% interest subsidy for loans up to Rs 10 crore from Karnataka State Financial Corporation (KSFC) to minorities establishing new micro and small businesses.
Additionally, the government gave the Minority Development Corporation Rs 393 crore.
Opposing the budget presented by Siddaramaiah, BJP MLAs decided to stage a protest in front of the Kengal gate (west entrance) at Vidhan Soudha. They also walked out of the state Assembly during the budget presentation.
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