BENGALURU: The Congress government in Karnataka, in its last full budget before the upcoming re-election, has announced plans to set up 198 Namma canteens in Bengaluru, which will serve breakfast for Rs 5, and lunch and dinner for Rs 10. The entire scheme will cost the Siddaramaiah government about £10 million.
Walking along the path paved by J Jayalalithaa, Arvind Kejriwal, and Akhilesh Yadav and also to woo the urban poor, Siddaramaiah promised 10,000 litres of water free of cost to people living in the slums. The Karnataka government will provide free laptops to students joining courses like Medical, Engineering, Polytechnic and First Grade Colleges in 2017-18, a scheme closely similar to Yadav's pre-2012 poll promise in Uttar Pradesh. Siddaramaiah also kept close to his pet project, the Annabhagya scheme, under which food grain allotment was increased from 5 kg to 7 kg per person.
Other than allotting £740 million for the Bengaluru city development, the government has declared an intent to cap the maximum entry fee in multiplexes and theatres at Rs 200. "We have tried to focus on various sectors like food, poor people, women welfare, and power," CM Siddaramaiah said after presenting the budget. While several people appreciated the freebies, others remained skeptical. The Opposition called the budget "populist" and "vision-less", accusing the CM of sticking to fiscal indiscipline. Leader of Opposition Jagadish Shettar said, "The Chief Minister has borrowed £3.7 billion and has not adhered to fiscal discipline."
