Bengaluru, Aug 1: Karnataka Energy Minister K J George on Tuesday said 'Gruha Jyothi' scheme, one of the five poll guarantees of the Congress promising to provide up to 200 units of free power to households, will be formally launched on August 5 in Kalaburagi.

"We had announced that from July, the electricity will be free up to 200 units and July's bill will come in August. We have now started the process of giving the bills. Under this ambitious scheme, already 1.42 crore consumers have registered," George said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, on the suggestion of the Chief Minister, cabinet colleague, legislators and others, it has been decided to organise a formal launch of the scheme, outside Bengaluru, and it will be at Kalaburagi on August 5.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, among others will grace the occasion, he said, adding that all the ministers have been asked by the CM to organise similar events in their respective districts.

The benefit under this scheme is calculated based on average consumption for financial year 2022-23, plus 10 percent additional, but total amounting to less than 200 units.

Of the 1.42 crore applicants so far, close to 18 lakhs were received from beneficiaries of various existing schemes such as Bhagya Jyothi, Kuteera Jyothi and Amrut Jyothi.

Stating that those who exceed 200 units usage will not be eligible under the scheme and their application will be rejected, George said.

"Those consumers who have applied and their consumption is within 200 units, based on the average and ten per cent additional, they will get zero bill. If the consumer has used above average and 10 per cent, but is still under 200 units, they will be charged the differential amount (between average and used units)."

Those who have registered under the scheme up to July 27 are eligible under the scheme, he said, adding there is no cutoff date for the scheme, and anyone who wants to register afresh and benefit from the scheme, can apply even now.

Responding to a question whether there is an increase in electricity consumption after the announcement of the scheme, the minister said there is no relation between the both.

Noting that there are 2.16 crore RR numbers (Revenue Register -- a unique identification number that is assigned to each electricity connection) in the state, he said, out of them 2.14 crore consumers use less than 200 units, and only 2 lakh use more than 200 units.

He said tenants can also apply for the scheme, and they have a different eligibility criteria, as the state average of 53 units plus 10 per cent additional usage, will be considered.

Responding to a question, George said the government will reimburse the Electricity Supply Companies (ESCOMs) for the cost incurred due to the implementation of the scheme.

The government has already implemented poll guarantee, 'Shakti', by providing free services for women in public transport buses last month, and 'Anna Bhagya' scheme -- by payment of cash in lieu of the additional 5 kg rice to beneficiaries.

The remaining two guarantees that the government is taking steps to implement are -- Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi) from August 16; and Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (Yuva Nidhi) by November or December.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.

The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.

Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.

What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.

"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,

which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.

"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.

"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.

"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.

In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.

The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.

With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.

Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).