Siddaramaiah asserts his govt committed to implement guarantees, says cabinet will decide on June 2
Bengaluru, May 31: Asserting that his government will implement the five poll 'guarantees' promised ahead of the assembly polls, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said officials have shared their inputs on financial implications, and the cabinet will meet on June 2 to decide on the implementation.
The cabinet meeting was earlier scheduled for June 1.
In view of the implementation of guarantees, the Chief Minister today held a meeting with all the Ministers and senior officials of the concerned departments at Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state secretariat and legislature, here.
"We had given five guarantees to the people, regarding these five guarantees concerned officials and finance department officials have made a presentation together. All the Ministers have seen the presentation, it has all the details -- proposals and financial implications of the implementation," Siddaramaiah said.
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Speaking to reporters here after the meeting, the CM said, "we have not discussed in today's meeting, discussion and decision will be on the day after. On Friday at 11 AM, I have convened the cabinet meeting, where we will discuss, and after that our decision will be made known to you."
"But, the government has taken a call to implement all the five guarantees. It is a guarantee that we will implement the guarantees," he added.
The Congress had promised to implement the guarantees' - 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day of assuming power in the state.
There is mounting pressure on the new government from opposition parties and various sections of people from across the state, to fulfill its five guarantees as promised ahead of polls.
Asked whether the five guarantees will be implemented at once or one after the other, the CM said, "All those things have not been decided yet, it will be discussed and decided in the cabinet."
To a query about BJP's criticism, he said, "let BJP (central govt) fulfill whatever they had promised, before questioning us. We will implement what we had promised, we had implemented earlier too, we will do it even now."
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar told media that officials shared inputs in today's meeting and also gave four to five options regarding the implementation of the guarantees, and what would be the financial impact.
"We are committed to implementing the guarantees, no doubts on that. Following officials sharing their opinion and inputs, some of us (Ministers) have also shared our view, and we have asked officials to rework and present it before the cabinet. As they sought time, there is no cabinet tomorrow, it has been postponed by a day -- to Friday. We will discuss and let you know."
Appealing to people to avoid any kind of "gossip" on this matter, Shivakumar said the state government is aware of the promises made by the Congress ahead of elections and also the financial implications. "We are discussing everything."
Reiterating that the government will decide at the cabinet meeting on Friday, he said, "How to do, what to do, we are thinking about it. You (media) may be in a hurry, we are not. Our speed is towards implementing systematically, the state has to be saved and we have to keep up our promise."
Asked whether there will be conditions attached to guarantees, the Deputy CM said, "Whether there are conditions or not - is not important, there should be a system for everything. Like in the case of free bus service for women -- who, where, within Karnataka or outside, there should be some calculations."
Earlier in the day, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge said criteria and frameworks are being decided for implementation of guarantees.
He said the criterion has to be fixed to implement the guarantees, as tax-payers money is involved.
Opposition BJP and JD(S) have accused the Congress of trying to "cheat" voters after coming to power by trying to attach conditions or criterion to the guarantees for their implementation, which were not mentioned ahead of polls.
There are also some reports about incidents of people not willing to pay electricity bills and women not wanting to pay bus charges. There are also discussions over whether mother-in-law or daughter-in-law should get financial assistance under the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme.
After having accorded in-principal approval for the guarantees in the first cabinet meeting on May 20, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said they would "most likely" be implemented after the next Cabinet meeting. He had also said that initial estimates indicate it would cost the exchequer Rs 50,000 crore annually.
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India beat Japan 2-0, to face China in final of women's ACT hockey
Rajgir (Bihar), Nov 19: Defending champions India continued their unbeaten run and defeated Japan 2-0 to enter the final of the women's Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Tuesday.
Vice-captain Navneet Kaur converted a penalty stroke in the 48th minute while Lalaremsiami struck from field play in the 56th minute for India, who had plenty of scoring chances including 13 penalty corners.
India will face China, whom they defeated in the league stages, in the final on Wednesday. Earlier, China beat Malaysia 3-1 in the first semifinal.
Malaysia will take on Japan in the third-fourth place match, while Korea finished fifth after beating Thailand 3-0 in the fifth-sixth place classification match.
The Indians continued their attacking game and put on early pressure on the Japanese defence, just like the last league game.
The play was mostly inside the Japanese half as the Indian defence was hardly tested.
India had the first shot at the goal inside the initial five minute. Skipper Salima Tete's attempt was thwarted by Japanse goalkeeper Yu Kudo.
The Indians repeatedly penetrated the Japanese citadel and in the process secured two penalty corners in a span of two minutes but Kudo was alert under the bar to deny Navneet Kaur and Deepika.
Three minutes into the second quarter, India secured three back-to-back penalty corners but failed to find the back of the net.
It was raining penalty corners for the hosts as they got back-to-back set pieces in the 21st minute but Kudo produced a brilliant save with her fully-stretched right leg to deny Deepika again.
In the 24th minute, India earned a penalty corner followed by another in the next minute but failed to get past Japanese goalkeeper Kudo, as they also lacked in execution.
A minute after the change of ends, India secured two penalty corners but wasted both.
In the 35th minute, Kodu again denied Deepika from a set piece.
In the 41st minute, Deepika stole the ball just outside the Japanese circle, but shot wide from a one-on-one situation with Kudo.
Seconds from the end of third quarter, Kudo once again pulled off a brilliant save to deny Udita from another penalty corner.
In the 47th minute, India secured their 12th penalty corner but failed to breach Kudo.
But a minute later, India broke the deadlock through a penalty stroke earned by Deepika and Navneet made no mistake.
The goal seemed to have rejuvenated the Indians as they scored a fine field goal in the 56th minute.
Lalremsiami slammed into the back of the Japanese goal after she was brilliantly set up by Sunelita Toppo's terrific run from the right flank.
Japan got a penalty corner in the dying moments, but failed to get past a rock solid Indian defence.
