Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented the state budget on Friday (February 16). Amid opposition attacks on Congress over appeasement, the Siddaramaiah government allocated Rs 100 crore for waqf properties, Rs 200 crore for Christian community and Rs 20 crore for pilgrimage sites.
Presenting his 15th Budget at Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah also earmarked Rs 10 crore for the construction of Haj Bhavan in Mangalore and announced that 100 Maulana Azad schools will be opened in the state.
The CM further said that ‘Tripitakas’, the sacred texts of the Buddhist community, will be translated into Kannada, and necessary grants will be allocated for the same.
The total outlay of the Karnataka State budget for 2024-25 is pegged at Rs 3,71,383 crore, as against 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’
Further, the Chief Minister said that 50 women-run cafes with the name of Cafe Sanjeevini will be launched across the State during this year for Rs 7.50 crore. “These canteens will cater to the demand and supply gap in rural areas for healthy, hygienic and affordable cooked food and traditional local cuisine,” he said.
Stress On Tourism
The government also announced the revision of the Tourism policy for 2024-29 to attract more tourists and investors to make full use of the tourism potential of the State. “Anjanadri Hills and surrounding areas of Koppal district hold mythological and historical importance, Rs 100 crore will be provided to develop tourism in these areas,” the CM said.
The Karnataka government also decided to develop cable car facilities in 10 tourist destinations and establish interpretation centres in Bandipur and Kabini. Siddaramaiah also announced a peripheral road project in Mysuru.
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
The Congress government further earmarked Rs 52,000 crore for the implementation of five guarantee schemes — Shakti, Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi, Yuva Nidhi and Anna Bhagya– in the 2024-25 budget.
While Siddaramaiah did not increase any taxes, he presented a revenue deficit budget with the net borrowings crossing Rs 1 lakh crore, perhaps for the first time in a year.
Minority Push In Budget
The Chief Minister announced that the government will restart fee reimbursement for students of minority community who are pursuing BSc or nursing degrees in government and private colleges. The government also announced a 6 per cent interest subsidy for loans up to Rs 10 crore availed from Karnataka State Financial Corporation (KSFC) for setting up new micro and small industries by minorities.
The government also allocated Rs 393 crore for minority development corporation.
BJP MLAs Stage Walk-out
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.
(With Inputs from News18 reporters Harish Upadhya and Akshara DM from Bengaluru)
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