Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday slammed the opposition BJP for calling the state price range a ‘Halal Price range’ and ‘Pakistan Price range’.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.(PTI)
The BJP termed it “appeasement” and the CM mentioned the saffron get together’s assertion was a mirrored image of their “rotten mindset”.
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Addressing reporters after presenting his sixteenth price range, the chief minister mentioned minorities don’t imply Muslims solely, however there are Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Christians in that class.
He additionally clarified that ₹250 crore has been earmarked for Christians as properly.
“The size of the budget is ₹4.09 lakh crore and if we give ₹4,500 crore to the minorities, the BJP calls it ‘Halal Budget’. Their statement shows their rotten mindset,” Siddaramaiah mentioned.
When a reporter requested him concerning the allocation for the Different Backward Castes, who represent 56 per cent of the inhabitants, Siddaramaiah mentioned ₹4,300 crore has been earmarked for them. Together with that ₹42,018 crore has been reserved for the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan (SCSP-TSP), he mentioned.
“We have made huge allocations for SCSP-TSP. Let the BJP, which ruled the Centre for 17 years, show that the Centre or the BJP ruled states have formulated SCSP-TSP provisions,” the CM mentioned.
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He charged that the BJP leaders in Karnataka lack the braveness to ask the Centre to duplicate the way in which Karnataka has launched SCSP-TSP. “But they do come to tell us that we are giving money to the Muslims. What moral rights they have to question us?” the chief minister sought to know.
He mentioned the BJP had displayed its disrespect for secularism by calling the Karnataka price range a ‘Halal Price range’ and ‘Pakistan Price range’. “This is a country of all the communities, which the BJP should know,” Siddaramaiah mentioned.
The chief minister mentioned the price range he introduced has far-sightedness and offers an equality, social and financial development oriented price range. We observe the Fiscal Accountability and Price range Administration (FRBM) Act.
He mentioned the dimensions of the price range in 2024-25 was ₹3.71 lakh crore price range, which has gone as much as ₹4,09,549 crore – a rise of ₹38,166 crore. The expansion price of the price range is 10.3 per cent.
“This year (2024-25) the borrowings were ₹1,05,246 crore, but next year’s borrowing will be ₹1,16,000 crore, which means we are borrowing ₹10,000 crore,” he identified.
The chief minister defined that, as per the FRBM Act, borrowing must be lower than 25 per cent of the Gross State Home Product (GSDP) for a robust fiscal well being.
“Karnataka’s borrowings are at 24.91 per cent. We are well within provisions of the FRBM Act. Financial deficit should not be more than three per cent as per FRBMA. We are at 2.95 per cent,” Siddaramaiah mentioned.
He mentioned there are three parameters to gauge fiscal self-discipline – first, the state must be income surplus, fiscal deficit shouldn’t be greater than three per cent, and the third is that borrowings of the state shouldn’t be greater than 25 per cent of the GSDP.
“We are following the fiscal discipline and we are offering programmes for poor, women, weaker section, minorities, workers and farmers,” Siddaramaiah mentioned.
“We are financially strong, we are following the financial discipline and we are as per the provisions of the FRBM Act. Also, we have also kept the promises we made,” Siddaramaiah mentioned.
The chief minister additionally mentioned that in 2024-25, the state had earmarked ₹52,009 crore for the 5 ensures, however within the subsequent fiscal ₹51,034 crore has been allotted.
“We reserved less money for the guarantees compared to previous year because we were paying cash to the beneficiaries of the Anna Bhagya guarantee at ₹34 per kg every month in place of food grains, but this year we got rice from FCI at ₹22 per kg,” he defined.
The 5 ensures have been the important thing pre-poll guarantees of the Congress authorities. They’re ‘Gruha Jyothi’ providing 200 models electrical energy free to each family, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme promising ₹2,000 to each girl head of a household and ‘Anna Bhagya’ providing 10 kg rice to each member of the BPL household a month.
The ‘Yuva Nidhi’ guarantees ₹3,000 dole to unemployed graduates and ₹1,500 to unemployed diploma holders for 2 years (within the 18-25 age-group) and ‘Shakti’ scheme permits free journey for Karnataka girls to journey inside the state in authorities non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah mentioned, “The BJP has said that the state would go bankrupt by implementing the five guarantees. Has it happened? Do they know the meaning of bankruptcy?”
He said the BJP is now replicating the Karnataka model of guarantees in Delhi, Haryana, MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. According to the chief minister, the annual expenditure on the guarantees per constituency is ₹232 crore on an average.
“Isn’t a growth if individuals are given cash? Gained’t it spur financial actions if the buying capability of individuals will increase?” he argued.