BANGALORE: The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has approved five welfare schemes pledged as ‘guarantees ‘ in the Congress manifesto, during the meeting on  Friday, June 2. As promised, all the schemes will be implemented in this financial year.

After the cabinet meeting, Siddaramaiah addressed the media and went into more detail on the five poll promises. Beginning July 1, Gruha Jyothi, a programme to give 200 free electricity units per month to every family, will go into effect. However, the arrears have to be paid by the customers.

Beginning on August 15, Gruha Lakshmi, a programme that gives Rs. 2,000 per month to each woman in a family known as a "kartha," will be put into effect. Beneficiaries must submit their Aadhaar and bank account information with their applications, which can be submitted online between June 15 and July 15.

All BPL and Antyodaya card holders will begin receiving 10 kg of rice per head on July 1 as part of the Anna Bhagya programme, Siddaramaiah stated during a news conference in Vidhan Saudha, Bangalore.

The Chief Minster added that the Shakti programme, which provides free transportation for women on State-wide regular public transportation buses, will go into effect on June 11. The only interstate travel allowed for women passengers is inside the state of Karnataka. A/C and luxury buses are also not included in the programme. 50% of the seats will be set aside by the KSRTC for men and the other 50% for women.

The CM said, the Yuvanidhi scheme will offer unemployed young adults who graduated in 2022–2023 with an unemployment benefit of Rs. 3,000 for graduates and Rs. 1,500 for diploma holders for 24 months starting from the date of enrollment. He noted that the dole would end if they managed to secure employment in the interim.

On May 31, the Finance Department presented the Council of Ministers with a number of possibilities for putting these guarantees into effect. Siddaramaiah met with a number of Cabinet colleagues on June 1 as representatives from the Finance Department worked on the Cabinet note that served as the framework for the discussion on guarantees at the meeting on June 2.

The Congress earlier said that it will implement the ‘5 guarantees’ if it formed a government in Karnataka. " With an absolute majority of 135 out of 224 seats, the party swept into the Vidhana Soudha. The five guarantees promised are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs.2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs.3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs.1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).  The Congress government also predicted that the annual cost of these programmes might be around Rs. 50,000 crore.

Even though Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, had promised that these guarantees would be put into effect the moment the Congress took office, Siddaramaiah, who took office on May 20, stated the government had agreed in principle to put the guarantees into effect and asked for time until the next cabinet meeting. "We have granted our general consent. We'll gather information, have a discussion, consider the financial ramifications, and then we'll do it without a doubt. We would fulfil these five assurance programmes, regardless of the financial costs, Siddaramaiah had told reporters during the first Cabinet meeting.

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