Instalment 1)
Here I will comment on the promises made by the party in their manifesto
1) Gruha jyoti - 200 units free electricity
Best instead to go for total power distribution reforms, along the lines of the
Delhi model in cities/ towns (urban areas), and
Odisha model in rural areas - check @
http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2018/08/05/failed-ppps-and-finally-good-model. For rural areas, there is also the alternative of Karnataka's own
Hukeri Co-op Society model. Whatever, no supply, whether to farmers or to slum dwellers, should go unmetered. Whatever
subsidy the government may want to offer, should be through
DBT, so that the service provider is not burdened.
2) Uchita Prayana - Free bus service for women
Just last week,
Delhi's AAP government announced the opening out of
high-end bus services to the private sector service aggregators like
#Shuttl, #CityFlo, etc. Among the first steps that the new government could take is to follow the Delhi government lead in this regard. This will lead to a large section of
work-day commuters giving up car/ two-wheeler usage for the purpose, helping to de-clutter city roads to a huge extent. What is needed simultaneously is to provide for similar efficient, reliable and cost effective bus services, for the
aam admi too, but which
BMTC/ KSRTC cannot do in their present avatars. As such, what is called for is re-structuring of the entire state bus services along a
PPP model perhaps as @
http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2019/07/16/outline-most-equitable-public-bus-transport-model. Here too, whatever
subsidies the state may want to give to women, students or whoever, needs to be done through
DBT.
3, 4 & 5) Gruha Lakshmi - Rs 2000/- per month for women; Yuva Nidhi - Rs 3000/- per month for graduates; Rs 1500/- per month for diploma holders; Anna Bhagya - 10kg rice per person per month
I will club all of these together and say that it would instead be preferable to provide for "
Universal Basic Income", with simultaneous doing away with the anomaly of "
permanency of government jobs", as argued in a series of blog-posts @
http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2012/05/23/oh-government-job#comment-38734. Such a step will solve the most vexatious problem of "
job reservations" too.
If the suggestions made at 1 & 2 above are actively pursued, the resulting savings to the public exchequer will enable the government to implement all of the many social programmes at 3, 4 & 5 and more effectively too.
Further instalments to follow
Muralidhar Rao
ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆಗಳು
Instalment - 2
Instalment - 3
Instalment-4