Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has received failing grades across multiple sectors in the latest Bahutva Karnataka reports. Bahutva Karnataka, a forum for justice, harmony and solidarity released various reports after assessing the quality of governance in the state. The ‘report cards’ were marked with various grades from A (the highest) to F (the lowest). The highest grade the BJP government received was C for economic and fiscal management.
Grade: E
The report highlighted the failure of the government to meet its stated goals and the constitutional vision of education as a fundamental right. The report also highlighted the communalisation of education in Karnataka, with a sudden ban on hijab in government pre-university colleges, leading to violence across the state.
Grade: D
The report pointed to the concerning levels of malnutrition among children in Karnataka. Data from the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5) for 2019-21 indicates that nearly 35% of children under the age of five in Karnataka were stunted, and nearly 33% were underweight. The report identified issues with the implementation of food security schemes, the public distribution system, and the role of caste and communal groups in disrupting access to nutrition. Nothing good?
Grade: E
The report criticised the passing of anti-farmer laws and floating schemes against farmers, pushing them into a deep crisis. The report also criticised the Karnataka Land Reforms Act Amendment, which legalised cases of illegal land purchase, enabling the rich and powerful to purchase farmers' land without any obstacle. The Cattle Slaughter Act criminalised farmers, affecting the entire rural economy and making cow rearing undesirable for farmers. The report also stated the government's failure to ensure that the government announced MSPs are brought into effect.
Grade: F
With regards to federalism, Bahutva Karnataka had graded the BJP government an ‘F’ or a fail grade. The forum placed several accusations on the ruling party including imposing Hindi, the state’s decreasing share in the tax revenue and removal of a strong local leader like BS Yediurappa from the Chief Minister position “without reason.”
Grade: E
According to Bahutva Karnataka’s report card, the BJP government has performed poorly in terms of environmental conservation. The report said that several water sources in Karnataka, including Arkavathy, Vrishabhavathi, and Pinakini rivers are facing threats of depletion. Apart from that, the forum says that lakes across Bengaluru have been “foaming, burning, fuming, and flooding”, indicating that they have been poorly managed.
Grade: F
The BJP government had received an ‘F’ with regards to labour rights in the state for various reasons. The report cited the Factories (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2023 which allowed for the increase of working hours from 9 to 12 in factories. Meanwhile, the BJP government had also reduced the minimum wage for the first time in dyeing, silk, printing, and textile industries. Apart from that, there has been a general rise in discontentment among labourers including anganwadi workers, MNREGA workers, pourakarmikas (sanitation workers), among others.
Grade: E
The forum gave an ‘E’ grade for governance under the BJP government for a variety of reasons. According to the report, the Karnataka State Planning Board was dissolved, and Bengaluru has not elected a municipal council since 2020. Apart from that, the report further said that the government failed to keep corruption in check. Some of the instances cited by Bahutva Karnataka include BJP MLA Madal Virupaksha and his son were caught with large amounts of money in their offices, government officials taking 40% bribes from contractors and state leaders being in connection with Chillume Trust, an organisation that was involved in stealing voter data.
Grade: F
The BJP government was given a ‘failing grade’ for failing to uphold democratic principles in the state. Bahutva Karnataka accused the state government of stifling dissent by filing sedition cases against people who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Registry of Citizens (NRC). Further, the forum also pointed out how the current BJP government came to power by “bringing down a democratically elected government”, further undermining democracy.
Grade: F
According to this report, the government has failed in distributing sale deeds to slum dwellers. “In 2020, the government issued an order for the distribution of title deeds but the government has shown complete indifference to its own decision,” the report said. It also said that under the PMAY scheme, the government announced to build houses 97,000 for the slum dwellers. However, only Rs.1,500 crores were allocated for the Rs. 6,500 crore project.
Grade: F
The government was granted an F in this segment since according to the latest data by National Crime Records Bureau, there has been a sharp increase in crimes against women. In 2021, Karnataka reported an all time high of 14,468 crimes against women. The report also spoke of the Hijab controversy wherein the government was complicit in depriving thousands of Muslim girls of education despite the strong nationwide ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign.
Grade: C
The highest grade given to the Karnataka government was C in Economy and Fiscal management. It said that the state performed well in economic terms with net per capita state domestic product (NSDP) 86% higher than the all-state average for the pandemic year 2020-21. However it also said that this did not convert to increased social expenditure on health, education, rural development, and others. It also said Social Services Expenditure declined from 4.45 % in 2019-20 to 4.29 % in 2022-2023 and Economic Services Expenditure declined from 4.6 % to 4.42 % over the same period as a proportion of GDP.
Grade: F
According to the report, the government targeted religious minorities through hate speech and crimes committed against them. Muslims were blamed for spreading Corona virus during the pandemic. “Instead of speaking out against moral policing, the CM and other government representatives have legitimised vigilantism by not speaking out against vigilante groups and instead giving public support to Hindutva organisations that are the principal culprits,” the report said. The report also mentioned how cow slaughter law and anti conversion law further encouraged vigilantism.
Grade: E
The BJP government got an ‘E’ grade for rural development as the report stated that there has been an erosion of the Panchayat Raj system. The report cited examples of how Panchayat elections were postponed and development in rural areas have been limited to merely construction activities. The report further drew attention to the high levels of unemployment during the COVID-19 lockdowns in rural Karnataka and the fact that the demand of MNREGA work exceeded the supply. Despite this rise in demand, the funds allocated for NREGA have either been delayed or decreased. With regards to water supply, the report mentioned that only 35% of the Gram Panchayats have the Paani Samiti structure to oversee water supply.
No grade given.
The report card highlights several shortcomings in the state's healthcare system. The pandemic exposed the acute shortage of public facilities and exorbitant costs of poorly regulated private healthcare sectors, affecting both COVID and non-COVID patients. Despite the instances of patients dying due to an acute shortage of oxygen and essential services, the state has not made any serious attempt to understand gaps in service delivery and avert disasters in the future. The absence of a dedicated public health cadre leads to policy decisions being made by clinicians from the private healthcare sector. The report also highlights the discrimination and casteism within the healthcare system and the inadequate acknowledgement of Muslim volunteers' role during the pandemic. The report recommends that the state needs to be more transparent, accountable, inclusive, and non-discriminatory, and focus on improving healthcare indicators.
No grade given.
According to the forum, the government enacted various laws and policies that deprive workers of fundamental rights. The report accuses the Industrial Disputes (Karnataka Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, and other legislation that raised the applicability threshold of various laws of placing thousands of workers outside the scope of protection, rendering them more susceptible to exploitation. The report further notes that the Factories (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2023, which extended working hours from 9 to 12 hours, has annulled the basic right to an eight-hour workday. Moreover, recent amendments allowing women to work night shifts are likely to lead to further exploitation, as per the report. The report states that the government purportedly provided inadequate support to workers during the pandemic, and although it announced a relief of Rs 2,000 to domestic helpers, the funds did not reach them due to government-imposed obstacles.