Sir,

Kudos to the Government of Karnataka for achieving the milestone of issuing 500 crore free tickets to women beneficiaries under one of its flagship guarantee schemes, Shakti. The then Opposition party, the Congress, had announced five guarantee schemes in its 2023 election manifesto: Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya Scheme, Shakti and Yuvanidhi.

After assuming power through a landslide victory in the 2023 Assembly polls, the Congress government fulfilled its promise by implementing all five schemes.

Gruha Jyothi provides free electricity up to 200 units;  Gruha Lakshmi offers Rs. 2,000 per month to the woman head of families belonging to both BPL and APL categories. Under the Anna Bhagya Scheme, beneficiaries now receive 10 kg of free rice per month, as opposed to the earlier 5 kg. Yuvanidhi provides a monthly allowance of Rs. 3,000 for graduates and Rs. 1,500 for diploma holders.

While the above four schemes are clearly defined and quantifiable, the Shakti Scheme lacks such parameters. It is currently assessed solely based on the number of free tickets issued by KSRTC, making it difficult to determine how many women have genuinely benefited.

In the absence of structured rules, regulations or travel limits, both the general public and KSRTC staff are facing operational challenges and inconvenience in their daily commute. Hence, I appeal to the State Government to issue non-transferable smart cards (similar to metro cards) to eligible women, with fixed travel limits such as 5,000 kms per month or 50,000 kms per year, valid on a monthly or yearly basis.

Introducing a travel cap will ensure better utilisation of the Scheme, ease the burden on KSRTC, provide smoother travel for other commuters and most importantly, help reduce financial strain on the State exchequer.

— V.S. Manjunath, Advocate, Mysuru, 17.7.2025

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