All the Buzz about Congress’s 5 Guarantees in Karnataka

Last Updated on June 12, 2023

There is a lot of talk in Karnataka about the 5 Guarantees announced by Congress as poll promises. Especially, after Congress came to power, people are excited, maybe, too excited to see them getting implemented as soon as possible. They simply can’t wait to be the beneficiaries of them.

We can’t blame people either. Congress’s whole campaign was about 5 guarantees if you leave the part of blaming the BJP for 40% Sarkar and Scandals – PSI scam etc. The first guarantee was announced on 17th January 2023 by Priyanka Gandhi and it was Gruha Laxmi – 2000 per month to every woman head of household.

17th January was well before the election. It is close to four months before the election. It was way too early. It is almost a fact that people only remember what happens to close the election day. People’s memory is short-term.

By this time, JDS had already been doing their campaign under the name Pancharatna for more than 2 months. BJP was still scratching its head and trying to figure out when to start the campaign. But, a week later BJP too announced its Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra.

At that time, in mid-January, no one would have thought that Congress had 4 more guarantees to reveal before the election. Even many members of Congress, senior or junior, had no clue about them.

But, one by one, Congress announced the rest of the 4 guarantees and made a guarantee card out of it. These guarantee cards were given out to people during the door-to-door campaign. Apparently, these 5 guarantees had caught on more than any other poll promise by any party for that matter.

Here are the 5 Guarantees by Congres:

1. Gruha Laxmi – 2000 per month to every women head of household
2. Yuva Nidhi – 3000 per month to unemployed graduates
3. Gruha Jyothi – 200 units of electricity to every household
4. Anna Baghya – 10 Kg rice per month to BPL families
5. Uchita Prayana – Free Bus Pass to women

Now, after Congress came to power, political parties in opposition and including people, in general, are excited about them. They are eagerly waiting for them. This is because when these guarantee cards were handed out, there were no “Star mark or Asterisk” or “Conditions applied”.

It is as if all those guarantees were made for everyone. It was blanket such a statement. Maybe, Congress did it deliberately to cast as wide a net as possible to catch the maximum number of voters. Congratulations to them because they succeeded in doing so. At the same time, I wish all the luck in the world for delivering everyone.

Here is what SIddaramiah said during the campaign- “You get free 200 units of electricity, I get free 200 units and everyone gets free 200 units as well”

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Congress also said that they will implement all these 5 guarantees in the first cabinet meeting itself.

After becoming CM, here is Siddaramiah saying – “it will cost around 50,000 crores to implement them”

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If it costs only 50000 crore Rupees, then I bet it is not for everyone. There will place so many conditions on these guarantees that they would have to severely limit the number of beneficiaries.

Do you know the 3 most common public opinions about the voting or election?, then check out this post – 2023 Karnataka Assembly Election: Public’s perception over Election

I am not for the assertion that everyone should get the benefit of these 5 guarantees just because Congress promised them. What if it breaks Karnataka’s treasury? What if Congress drowns the Karnataka government in the flood of debt to get these Guarantees schemes to everyone? or Will it be able to follow sound fiscal management policy according to FRBM Act 2002 – Fiscal Deficit < 3% of GSDP and Total debt < 25% of GSDP?

Instead of asking these questions, the following is what leaders from opposition parties are saying.

Here is Kumaraswamy calling on people to not pay electricity bills for 200 units and women to pay no bus fare.

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Here is R Ashok calling on women to not take the ticket

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Don’t get me wrong. Don’t think that I am not for Freebies or Welfare Schemes or whatever name you call it. I am all for these 5 Guarantees but only for the needy – individuals and families. These Guarantee schemes either act as income support or save people some money. The needy ones should be selected and targeted based on economic criteria like Below Poverty Line etc instead of using arbitrary rules.