Siddaramaiah presides and unveils the 4,400 cr Sops

Siddaramaiah sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka

The new CM has greater plans for the development of the state and has already announced the latest plans of the government and is mostly concentrated on rural development. But with no ministers yet in his ministry, the coming days will decide how the plans work

Bangalore: Newly-elected Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah was on Monday sworn in as the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka. Breaking the convention of Chief ministers taking oath at the Vidhan Soudha, on account of the construction of Bangalore Metro — Siddaramaiah was sworn in by Governor H R Bhardwaj in a packed Kanteerava Sports Stadium.

Even being the first in the ministry to be sworn in and with no ministers to assist, the new CM has left no time in announcing the plans of his government and it includes 4,400 cr sops which will benefit 1.38 Crore people!

The press conference by the CM after the ceremony declared the following packages:

• * Rs 4 government subsidy on every litre of milk produced by dairy farmers, amounting to a cost of Rs 496 crore per annum on the exchequer and benefiting 7.5 lakh milk producers.
• * From June, Re 1 per kg up to a maximum of 30 kg for BPL families. This scheme would benefit 98.17 lakh people and will cost the government Rs 460 crore per annum.(as opposed to the 16Kg limit by the previous government)
• * Rs 1,960 crore per year as house construction subsidy in rural areas. The move entails increasing an already existing house construction subsidy from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh per house with the state government matching a Central subsidy and is expected to benefit 2.72 lakh people this year.
• * A one-time waiver of loans granted by social welfare corporations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward castes and minorities to the tune of Rs 349 crore, Rs 68 crore, Rs 514 crore and Rs 362 crore, respectively, benefiting over 15 lakh people was also announced on Monday.
• * The state government will waive off some Rs 268 crore in dues from rural homes for non payment of arrears for electricity procured under Bhagya Jyothi scheme, he said.

The schemes announced are well ahead and promising - but the true case lies behind the respective ministers who are sworn in and how well they implement the scheme. The policies announced will certainly put the BJP on guard and we don't expect a retaliation until few months gone.

Inputs from PTI, New Indian Express, Times Of India

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- Unknown Updated at: Tuesday, May 14, 2013