Key schemes for women and child development in Karnataka Budget

Bommai, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented his second and last Budget before the upcoming state elections this year.

Countering Congress’s promises ahead of the state assembly elections, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai announced several initiatives for women’s health and empowerment in the state Budget on Friday.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai presents the State Budget for the financial year 2023-24 in the presence of State Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri during the Budget presentation, at Vidhana Soudha (ANI)

Bommai, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented his second and last Budget before the upcoming state elections this year.

A new scheme, ‘Shrama Shakthi’, has been announced by the Bommai, which provides financial assistance of ₹500 per head of the month to landless woman farm labourers through direct benefit transfer (DBT).

“To enable women to start profitable home-based factories, free skill development training will be provided to one lakh women in the current year,” Bommai said.

In the run-up to the polls, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra unveiled the Gruha Lakshmi scheme last month, in which the woman head of every household will get financial assistance of ₹2,000 per month or ₹24,000 a year. The Bommai-led BJP government immediately announced a scheme to provide up to ₹3,000 per month to families below the poverty line.

Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad hit out at the BJP on the measures targeted at women. He said, “The BJP, after being perturbed by our Gruha Lakshmi Yojana, have tried to do something which is not even close to what we will give to the women of Karnataka.”

“Do they have accurate data on several landless women farm labourers? This is just to divert the attention of people away from the promises made by us, but they will not succeed. Also, ₹500 will not help them in any way due to the exorbitant increase in the prices of essential commodities,” Arshad said.

Noting that on the lines of the ‘Mathrupoorna’ programme, eligible married women will be provided with a mid-day meal and prophylactic IFA (iron folic acid) tablets in Anganwadis, for a maximum period of six months once in their lifetime, Bommai said emphasis would be given to aspirational taluks under this programme.

Reacting to the allocations, Dr Sylvia Karpagam, who is a Bengaluru-based doctor and also a researcher working on the right to health and nutrition, said while the move will go a long way in women’s empowerment, the scheme being introduced only for ‘eligible married women’ is exclusionary.

“It is good that supplementary nutrition will be introduced for all adolescent girls who are not in school. They should also be provided other benefits related to income generation, training, subsidies and loans, sanitary napkins etc. It is good that creche facilities are being introduced for women in the informal sector. This will go a long way in women’s empowerment,” Karpagam said.

“However, the Arogya Pushti scheme is being introduced only for ‘eligible married women’. This is exclusionary. Many young women have dropped out of education and are married or likely to be married and who are mostly excluded from most schemes,” Dr Karpagam pointed out.

Arshad said the ‘Arogya Pushti’ would not have any impact if it is given only for six months and once in their lifetime. “It will be impactful only if it is given for a longer time and at all times when they are certified to be malnourished. This should also be extended to all women above the age of 14 years,” the Congress MLA said.

In another project for women, the government has also announced a free bus passes facility for all women working in organised sectors. “The ₹1,000 crore project will help around 30 lakh women in the state. Similarly, free passes will be given to all school and college students under the ‘Vidhya Vahini’ scheme,” Bommai said.

The Budget also proposes the construction of 250 ‘She Toilets’ for ₹50 crore in heavily populated markets and commercial complexes in Bengaluru.

The monthly pension paid to victims of an acid attack has already been increased from ₹3,000 to ₹10,000, he said. Pointing out that the Karnataka State Finance Corporation is providing loan facilities to women entrepreneurs in service sectors up to ₹two crore at an interest of four per cent, Bommai said it will be enhanced to ₹five crore.