Karnataka Budget 2023 Highlights: CM Siddaramaiah concludes nearly three-hour-long speech with ‘Jai Hind, Jai Karnataka’

CM Siddaramaiah concluded his nearly three-hour-long budget speech with ‘Jai Hind , Jai Karnataka’ in Bengaluru's Vidhana Soudha on Friday. The Congress stalwart announced several measures in his 14th budget presnetation, along with fund allocations for the party's five main poll guarantees.

To make Bengaluru a global city, Brand Bengaluru got a mention in the new budget of Karnataka governement. Siddaramaiah said that this initiave will focus on nine major challenges that the IT capital is facing at the moment. 

Traffic management, Environment, Solid waste management, Public health, People-friendly e-Governance, Water security, Flood management, Animal health and Proper utilization of public places in Bengaluru are the nine major challenges that goverement will focus on. 

In his budget speech, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah announced that the State Education Policy will replace the National Education Policy which was started by the central governement in 2020. 

Karnataka government's Brain Health Intiative program in collaboration with NIMHANS will now be extended to all parts of the state. Earlier this pilot project which was launched for the mental health of people is restricted to Bengaluru, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. This will cost Rs. 25 crores on the state exchequer.

Karnataka government alloted Rs. 30 crores to establish trauma centers in Mysuru and Kalaburgi. An automated and completly centralised blood bank will be started with Rs. 5 crores at Bangalore Medical College

Karnataka governement will be developing the famous Halasuru Gurudwara with Rs. 25 crores and it also extended the budget to other religious places. ₹100 crores for Karnataka State Christian Development Corporation and other ₹50 crores to protect and develop more than 40,000 Wakf properties are included in the budget documents. 

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said that the government is committed to provide homes for forest dwellers. He said, “The Forest Rights Act is causing a hurdle for granting houses to forest dwellers. We will conduct a meeting with the central government and discuss the amendments that need to be done in the act.” 

The government in Karnataka will be hiking the monthly pension payable to unmarried and divorced women and gender minorities from ₹600 to ₹800. 1.32 lakh beneficiaries will be benefited, the budget document read.

The Karnataka government will establishment a mega jewellery park in Bengaluru, which will create 10,000 new job opportunities, the budget document revealed. This is in a bid to attract investors in the jewellery sector.

CM Siddaramaiah said the government will also establish a Karnataka State Christian Development Corporation at ₹100 crore this year.

₹8,409 crore has further been allocated for the comprehensive development of Bengaluru city in Siddaramaiah's budget.

Siddaramaiah also announced a total ₹4 lakh accident insurance for e-commerce delivery employees, including those working for Swiggy, Zomato and Amazon, among others.

Siddaramaiah announced the allocation made for different sectors, giving ₹33,700 crore to Agriculture and Allied Activities, ₹68,479 crore to Welfare and Inclusive Growth, ₹55,657 crore for Stimulating Economic Growth, ₹3,102 crore for the Conservation of Culture, Heritage and Natural Resources, and ₹56,170 crore for Administrative Reforms and Public Service Delivery.

Karnataka government will also be revising the guidance values for all immovable properties across the state this year, CM Siddaramaiah said in his budget speech. 

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in his budget speech on Friday said that the Congress government would be providing an average additional financial aid of ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 a month to each household through its five poll guarantees.

The Karnataka government is also set to increase the additional excise duty on beer from 175% to 185%, CM Siddaramaiah said in his budget speech.

CM Siddaramaiah announced that the revenue collection target has been fixed at ₹1,62,000 crore, which will be extracted from three departments: ₹1,01,000 crore from Commercial department, ₹36,000 crore from Excise department and ₹25,000 crore from Stamps and Registrations.

The Karnataka government is also set to repeal amendments made to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) Act during the previous BJP regime, CM Siddaramaiah said in his budget announcement. The Congress government is likely to bring back the older version of the APMC Act while keeping a few provisions of the amended one.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah also said the Anna Bhagya scheme, under which every member of a below poverty line (BPL) household would get 10 kg of free rice, got an allottment of ₹10,000 crore annually. The scheme is expected to benefit 4.42 crore beneficiaries.

The Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which provides ₹2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family, got an allocation of ₹24,166 crore in Siddaramaiah's 14th budget.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has allotted ₹100 crore for the establishment of new Indira canteens and the development of existing canteens across the state.

The Karnataka government has allotted ₹10,460 crore to the Food department, according to CM Siddaramaiah. 

The Congress government in Karnataka has allotted ₹45,000 crore for the development works surrounding capital city Bengaluru, CM Siddaramaiah said.

CM Siddaramaiah on Friday also said ₹30,000 crore has been allotted to the BMRCL's Namma Metro, to further developments in a bid to ease Bengaluru's ongoing traffic issues.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in his budget presentation on Friday said that the excise duty on liquor has been hiked by 20%. This is being seen as a means for the government to extract funds to fulfil their five main poll guarantees in the southern state.