TRS has also promised to double pension of physically challenged.
An unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 per month to every jobless youth, enhancement of old-age pensions from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,016 per month and cut down of old age eligibility from 65 years to 57 years are some of the promises of the populist election manifesto of the ruling TRS for the Telangana Assembly elections slated to be held on 7 December.
The party has also promised to double the monthly pension of physically challenged persons from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,016, if it returns to power. The ruling party has increased the farmers’ input subsidy, “Rythu Bandhu” from the present Rs 8,000 per acre to Rs 10,000. Currently, this money is given to farmers in two instalments. TRS has promised to waive all farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh limit.
Caretaker Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has announced a part of the election manifesto of his party on Tuesday and assured to include some more sops, based on the feedback from the public. Already ahead of many other states in the country on welfare sops to different categories of people, the latest promises would make the welfare budget too unwieldy, according to financial experts.
KCR has apparently promised a lot to different sections of public, on the cue that Opposition Congress and BJP would be offering more in their manifestos. The Congress has announced that it would waive farmers’ loans up to Rs 2 lakh on their outstanding dues with banks and offer an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month and increase old age pensions from Rs 1,000 to Rs2,000 per month.
KCR went a step ahead and added Rs 16 to what was promised by the Congress to both jobless youth and old persons, but also expanded the base of beneficiaries. His decision to lower the age limit of old persons by eight years, from 65 years to 57 years, will add at least eight lakh beneficiaries. Presently, 13.4 lakh old persons are receiving monthly pensions and this will go to around 21 lakh.
The hike in pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,016 will be applicable to other categories of beneficiaries. Currently, 39.5 lakh persons are paid pensions under different categories, including 14.40 lakh widows, 4.08 lakh beedi workers, 37,000 handloom weavers, 1.31 lakh single women (unmarried or divorced above the age of 40 years), 63,000 toddy tappers, 19,602 HIV affected and 14,000 filariasis patients.
The increase in pensions and subsidies are sure to please various types of beneficiaries. However, finding funds to implement them has become a question mark, in view of the huge burden they pose on the exchequer. Already, the existing schemes have been provided an allocation of Rs 1, 05,000 crore in the 2018-19 budget. If the new schemes are to be implemented, the budget needs Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
However, this amount is just impossible to be raised from the present revenue and capital receipts of Telangana. The state every year gets a revenue inflow, from all sources including Central assistance, of Rs 95,000 crore per annum, of which, Rs 32,000 crore goes to salaries and pensions of government employees.
The state, which sits on a debt mound of around Rs 2.3 lakh crore, is in a position to borrow from the market even to pay its interest burden. The TRS government has borrowed funds from different financial institutions in the country for its infrastructure projects and issued bonds for raising funds for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation at higher interest rates, around 10%.
According to a calculation by an official in the finance department, the unemployment allowance itself requires Rs 5,450 crore per annum if the total number of beneficiaries stands at 15 lakh (those who had completed degree and above and below the age of 35 years). If the number exceeds as there is a demand for considering 40 years’ limit for unemployed, the burden will further go up.
KCR promised separate financial corporations to Vysyas (banias) and Reddys (both are forward castes) on par with those of Brahmins and is expected to dole out Rs 200 crore each. A separate financial scheme for SC/STs on par with Yadavs and Mudirajs (fishermen) is also promised and the additional burden would be around Rs 2,500 crore per year.
The TRS is expected to add some more promises in its manifesto which would be released sometime next month. The Opposition Congress and BJP, too, would be fine-tuning their manifestos so as to compete with that of TRS. BJP has promised farm loan waiver and other allowances on par with Congress and TRS, besides declaring a two-day per week closure of liquor shops.
Telangana Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the TRS had copied the manifesto of his party, which is still underway and added a few more rupees to fool around people. “We have solutions to raise additional funds, but TRS has no idea of it,” he said. BJP’s Telangana unit president K. Laxman said that TRS promises would push the state into further debt trap.
The Election Commission has set up a cell in the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Hyderabad to monitor the election promises of different political parties and take action if they promise something just impossible. Asked about TRS promises, an official in the CEO told this newspaper on Friday that they had received complaints from some persons on their feasibility.
At a media get together in Hyderabad on Thursday, Telangana Finance Minister and TRS senior leader Etele Rajender had admitted that the implementation of the promises made in his party manifesto might be tough, but claimed that the government was hopeful of improving its financial condition in the next four to five years.