The Congress government in Karnataka Friday announced the implementation of two of its five programmes promised in its election manifesto. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the Gruha Lakshmi and Yuvanidhi schemes for women and the unemployed via direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes.

Karnataka is the fourth state to take the DBT route to implement such schemes for the benefit its people. Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have already operationalised such progammes.

After the first cabinet meeting on May 20, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the government will spent Rs 50,000 crore annually to fulfill the guarantee. He said his government is confident of implementing five guarantees at any cost. The government can arrange the cost after cutting down on wasteful expenditure, he noted.

Under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Rs 2,000 per month to women heads of all households will be transferred to their bank accounts. Under the Yuvanidhi plan, an allowance of Rs 3,000 per month for graduates aged between 18-25 years and Rs 1,500 per month for diploma holders in the same age group will be disbursed via DBT.

The three other schemes that Congress had promised in the manifesto as guarantees are: Free power of 200 units per month to all households under Gruha Jyothi scheme, 10 kg grain per person per month for below poverty line families under the Anna Bhagya scheme and free bus travel for women under the Gruha Shakti plan. Many people have welcomed the promises and praised the government’s step to fulfill promises made in the Congress manifesto.

Karnataka Rural Development, Panchayat Raj, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday said there is no scheme that is free for all but as promised, it will be implemented with the some rules and regulations.

After the implementation of the scheme, many economists have raised their concern about the revenue generation and suggested money can be raised through three sources to bear the cost of the scheme by increasing excise, entertainment taxes, and by hiking rent for government property. Some experts fear it will be difficult for the Karnataka government to raise the revenue and meet the Rs 50,000 crore estimated yearly expenditure which can exceed projections.

In Telangana, the K Chandrasekhara Rao-led BRS government has cumulatively disbursed Rs 65,559 crore over 10 crop seasons with the money deposited into the Aadhaar-seeded accounts of 65 lakh land-owning farmers under the DBT scheme. The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has transferred Rs 210,177.89 crore to the 7.89 crore beneficiaries under 28 DBT schemes.

The DBT scheme has been criticized because it has reduced state accountability in public services after DBT disbursal.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was given temporary relief and permitted to see his ailing wife Seema in the hospital where she was being treated for a deteriorating health condition. His wife is suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Sisodia arrived at his Mathura Road home this morning after he was given bail from 10 am to 5 pm, according to the sources.

However, the High Court permitted him to meet his wife but emphasised that he was not to communicate with the media, anybody outside of his immediate family, or use the internet or his phone.

The court additionally ordered that the medical report of his wife is confirmed and to be positively provided by tomorrow evening.

Further, the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma instructed the Tihar jail’s superintendent to take Sisodia to his home, where he is permitted to see his wife from 10 am to 5 pm.

According to a senior jail official, Sisodia was moved under security protection to his home at 9 am, and at 5 pm he will report back.

Meanwhile, the legal team of Sisodia has filed an interim bail request in Delhi High Court, citing his wife’s condition. In the interim bail, the court is requested to grant bail for a period of six weeks.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenged the interim bail through Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who said, he can visit his wife while being escorted by the police.

For his suspected involvement in the scam, Sisodia was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023. On May 30, the High Court declined to grant him bail in the CBI case.

He is currently in judicial detention after being detained on March 9 in connection with the case brought by the ED.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the accident site in Balasore where three trains collided last night in which 288 people have died and 900 injured. During the visit, Vaishnaw said, in addition to the independent investigation by the rail safety commissioner, a thorough high-level investigation would be performed. He assessed the situation and declared that the administration is concentrating on rescue and relief efforts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to arrive later today to visit the accident site and met the injured. The PM met officials who briefed him on the tragedy.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced on Saturday that the state will observe a day of mourning and that there would be no celebrations.

The injured passengers will receive the best care possible in Cuttack, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar, or the hospitals in Kolkata, according to the railway minister.

According to Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena, the rescue effort is still going on inside one of the damaged coaches that collided with another bogie.

The autopsies of the victims have begun in several locations. The bodies of victims, who have been recognised, are being handed to their relatives who have arrived. According to Jena, every effort is being made to finish the victims’ postmortems as soon as possible.

Around 7 pm on Friday, the train accident, said to be the worst in recent history, occurred close to the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, which is located 250 kilometres south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar. Ten to 12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed and fell onto the other track which were then hit by the Yeswantpur-Howrah Superfast Express, causing three to four of its carriages to derail.

According to a statement from the Indian Railways, A M Chowdhary, Commissioner of Railway Safety, South East Circle, will be in-charge of the investigation into the train disaster.