Siddaramaiah with DKS (file photo)

New Delhi: The Karnataka government’s rising expenditure on welfare schemes has put pressure on its finances, leading to cuts in some ongoing programmes, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report for the 2024-25 financial year tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.

Guarantee schemes consume significant revenue

The CAG said the state spent Rs 52,525 crore in 2024-25 on five guarantee schemes – Shakti, Griha Lakshmi, Griha Jyoti, Yuva Nidhi and Anna Bhagya. This accounts for about 20% of revenue receipts and 27% of the state’s own revenue, highlighting the heavy burden of the schemes on the budget, the report said.“Although revenue growth is stable, it is insufficient to absorb the recurring costs of the guarantee schemes and hence the state needs to rely on borrowing to finance the guarantee schemes,” the report said. During 2024-25, while the state’s revenue increased by 10.63%, its expenditure increased by 14.99%, mainly due to guarantee schemes.

Cuts in other programs and increasing borrowing

The CAG highlighted that rising subsidies forced the government to reduce funding for some ongoing programmes, including nutrition, assistance to local bodies, rural development programs including gram panchayats and urban development initiatives.The mismatch between receipts and expenditure contributed to a revenue deficit of Rs 20,834 crore, while the fiscal deficit increased from Rs 65,522 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 85,030 crore in 2024-25, news agency PTI reported. To bridge the gap, the state took net market borrowing of Rs 71,525.15 crore, an increase of Rs 8,525.15 crore from the previous year.

Concerns over capital expenditure and debt repayment

While total capital expenditure increased by Rs 5,786 crore, the report said actual investment in infrastructure increased by only Rs 3,284 crore after adjusting for central assistance, investment and off-budget borrowings. The CAG warned that “this shortfall in gross capital formation could prove detrimental to future growth prospects.”It further said that higher borrowing will increase debt service obligations, which may reduce spending on developmental, infrastructure and welfare measures. The report warns that continued borrowing growth could risk violating the fiscal targets of the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act (KFRA).

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday hit out at Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge over their criticism of the party in poll-bound Kerala, accusing the Congress of targeting the Left for electoral gains and being soft on the BJP.In a strongly worded statement, the CPI(M) said the Congress was backtracking on its claim of fighting communal-authoritarian forces and instead becoming “a feeder organization for the BJP”.The CPI(M) Politburo also strongly rejected the “provocative statements” made by Rahul Gandhi and Kharge against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the party’s secular credentials.“Such rumors are being spread by them to score cheap electoral gains in the assembly elections. By targeting CPI(M) instead of BJP, Congress leaders are going back on their claim of fighting communal-authoritarian forces. The people of Kerala will understand this sinister agenda,” the CPI(M) said in a statement.The reaction came as Rahul Gandhi and Kharge launched the United Democratic Front (UDF) campaign for the Kerala elections from Kozhikode on Wednesday, launching a broad front against the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).Gandhi alleged that there is an agreement between the LDF and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.Addressing the campaign through video conferencing, he said, “Here in Keralam, there are really only two parties fighting. One is the UDF alliance, and the other is the partnership between the BJP and the LDF. The UDF unites the people, listens to them, and embraces them and empowers them. The LDF and their hidden partners divide the people and crush them.”He also mentioned the cases registered against opposition leaders and questioned why similar action was not taken against the Kerala Chief Minister.Gandhi said he himself has around 40 cases against him and that the Enforcement Directorate has interrogated him for five consecutive days, and alleged that the lack of similar action against Vijayan “despite corruption cases” is evidence of the BJP-LDF’s understanding.Responding to the allegations, CPI(M), which is also a constituent of the India Bloc along with the Congress, said the Congress should introspect on why many of its leaders in different states joined the BJP.“It is a well-known fact that the current BJP Chief Minister of Assam held important portfolios in the previous Congress government. The entire Congress leadership joined the BJP in 2018 to defeat the Left Front in Tripura. Many ministers in the central government and MPs belonging to the BJP were earlier prominent leaders in the Congress. The Congress became a feeder organization for the BJP,” the statement said.The party accused the Congress of allying with minority fundamentalist forces in the state.“Even in these elections, the Congress is in alliance with minority fundamentalist forces. The Congress-League-BJP nexus has been exposed in various elections in Kerala, including the recently concluded local body elections,” it said.Kerala will go to polls on April 9 and counting of votes will take place on May 4. The Congress-led UDF is trying to oust the ruling LDF from power.

New Delhi: With less than a week left for the Centre’s March 31 deadline to end left-wing extremism, security forces have launched intensive operations in key Maoist-affected areas to track down the remaining armed cadres and force them to surrender.“The plan is to ensure 100 per cent elimination of armed Naxalites by March 31, the deadline announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. This will be done either by engaging in encounters or by surrendering. Some major operations are being carried out in these last 5-6 days of the countdown,” a top CAPF commander told PTI.Security forces are still keeping an eye on around 130-150 armed cadres, including two central committee members of the banned CPI (Maoist) and some other divisional-rank workers.The Center is also preparing an “operations and development” blueprint, which is expected to include the withdrawal of about five Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) battalions from these areas and the introduction of several welfare schemes, official sources told PTI.As part of the operation, around three to four CoBRA units of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are being moved from Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand for a special operation in the Saranda forests of West Singhbhum district, sources said.It is said that Misir Besra alias Bhaskar lives in Jharkhand and Cobra teams are searching for him and his associates.Sources said that in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, teams of CRPF, BSF and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are also being “redeployed” with the specific objective of engaging armed Maoist cadres in gun battles or forcing their surrender.According to sources, a cross-border operation is also underway involving Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha.According to officials, Rammanna, also known as Ganapathy or Lakshmana Rao, is reportedly in touch with the Telangana Police and may surrender by March 31.Another official said about three battalions of the Border Security Force (BSF), along with a sector office headed by a DIG-rank officer, are expected to withdraw from Koraput district and adjoining areas of Odisha.The sector office may shift to Kandhamal district of the state and three battalions will shift either to border guarding duties or to Manipur, as the situation requires.Some CAPF battalions will also be withdrawn from Chhattisgarh, the official said, an announcement of which is expected to be made on March 31. The state police and Chhattisgarh DRG will take over the CAPF camps.Chhattisgarh Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma announced in Jagdalpur on Wednesday that about 96 percent of the vast geographical area of ​​Bastar is now free from Naxalite influence.CAPFs and state police forces have also been asked to conduct a joint “de-mining” exercise to search for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and bombs hidden in Naxalite violence-hit areas, sources said.In February, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) conducted a fresh review of Naxalite violence-affected areas and informed that the number of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts in the country stands at seven.These seven districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Sukma, Kanker and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Kandhamal in Odisha.The nine states affected by Left Wing Extremism under different categories are Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.According to official figures, a total of 76 districts in nine states were vulnerable to Left Wing Extremism during 2005–06.Home Minister Shah has repeatedly said that the threat of left-wing extremism, which was called the biggest internal security challenge for India in 2010, will end by this March.Describing Naxalite violence as a challenge to democracy, he said that till now about 17,000 civilians and security personnel have lost their lives in it.The Naxalite movement in India emerged in 1967 in Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal located at the tri-junction of India, Nepal and Bangladesh.