Karnataka Guarantees Make Finances Harder to Manage: Minister Balakrishna

Bengaluru, Sep 27 : Municipal Administration Minister H.C. Balakrishna has acknowledged that Karnataka’s flagship welfare guarantee schemes have made the state’s finances more difficult to manage, forcing the government to balance welfare commitments with salaries, development works and other expenditures.

Addressing persons with disabilities who were protesting in Ramanagara over their demands, Balakrishna said the government would have had greater financial flexibility if it had not introduced the guarantee schemes.

“If we did not have these guarantees, perhaps all these things would not have appeared to us to be such major problems. It would have been easy for us to do all this. But we have to run the government. Everything must be managed within the system and within the budget,” he said.

The minister’s remarks come amid continuing debate over the financial sustainability of the Congress government’s five guarantees — Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, Shakti, Anna Bhagya and Yuva Nidhi — which were among its key electoral commitments.

Balakrishna said the government had to balance competing demands for welfare, infrastructure, salaries and development programmes within the limits of the state budget.

Seeking the protesters’ understanding, he said the government could not fulfil every demand immediately and had to prioritise expenditures based on available financial resources.

The minister’s comments have brought renewed focus on Karnataka’s fiscal position and the challenge of balancing recurring welfare expenditure with other government commitments.

“We have to run the government. Everything must be managed within the system and within the budget,” Balakrishna reiterated.