Amid backlash on freebies, Karnataka government has decided to tweak scheme, Siddaramaiah's government has decided to credit money to BPL card holders in lieu of 5 kg rice as it has been unable to procure additional rice under the "Anna Bhagya" scheme.
"The Karnataka government has decided to give cash instead of rice till rice is procured. For each Kg Rs. 34 will be given until rice is procured and supplied," said Minister HK Patil.
One of the guarantees of the Siddaramaiah govt was to provide 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household if voted to power.
“The FCI (Food Corporation of India) has a standard rate of Rs 34 per kg rice. We tried to get rice but no institution came forward to supply us the required amount of rice (to give additionally),” Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa briefed reporters here after a Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday.
He said, “Since the date for launching Anna Bhagya has arrived (July 1) and we had given word, today in the cabinet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and other ministers arrived at a decision that till the time the rice is supplied, we will give money at the rate of Rs 34 per kg, which is the FCI rate, to the (BPL) ration card holders.”
In the event that there is one individual in one card, the individual will get Rs 170 every month against five kg extra rice under the Anna Bhagya conspire, the minister said.
He added that two people with the ration card will be eligible for Rs 340, and if there are five members, they will receive Rs 850 per month.
According to Muniyappa, the government has planned to deposit the funds directly into the beneficiaries' accounts.
“This will come into effect from July 1 itself. This is one of the important guarantees promised by our party. We had taken this decision in the first cabinet meeting after coming to power,” the Minister noted.
The Congress party which formed the government in Karnataka had announced 5 guarantees to get power. Impressed by these guarantees, the people of Karnataka gave a historic mandate to the Congress and the Congress party came to power with 135 seats. But now the government is struggling to implement these free guarantees.
Two of the five guarantees are yet to be implemented. Out of the remaining 3 guarantees, 2 are yet to materialize and the state-wide free bus service scheme launched for women in the name of Shakti Yojana has exposed the chaos.
Meanwhile, women members of a self-help group (SHG) from Kolar district stage protest outside Karnataka CM Siddaramiah's residence over unfulfillment of promise of waiving off their loans.
On June 11, the free bus service for women was launched by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar with full fanfare, but since then such videos are coming out every day which confirm that this The basic things that should have been taken care of before launching the scheme were ignored. So many women boarded a Mysore bus that they started fighting with each other for seats. In Dharwad, a bus conductor had to be troubled inside the bus to give tickets to the passengers.
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