Karnataka: Cabinet Approves Smart Cards for Shakti Scheme to Streamline Free Bus Travel

Karnataka Cabinet has approved the implementation of smart cards for women beneficiaries under the Shakti scheme to ensure transparency and better monitoring of free bus travel across the state. 

In a significant decision aimed at improving transparency and streamlining benefits, the State Cabinet on Thursday approved the implementation of smart cards for the Shakti scheme, one of the Karnataka government’s flagship guarantee programmes. The move is expected to strengthen monitoring mechanisms and ensure better data management of beneficiaries availing free bus travel across the state.

Provision for Official Identity Cards

Addressing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Minister HK Patil stated that women are currently permitted to travel free of cost on regular state transport buses under the Shakti scheme by producing their Aadhaar card or any other government-issued identity card.

He said the Cabinet has now decided to introduce smart cards for women beneficiaries to ensure more effective and transparent implementation of the scheme.

Smart Card Implementation

The Shakti scheme was introduced to enable women in the state to travel free of charge on all ordinary-fare buses operated by the State Transport Department across Karnataka. Although the government had earlier announced the issuance of smart cards for seamless and transparent implementation, the proposal had not been implemented until now.

The matter was raised by several members during the recent Belagavi session as well as the joint session, seeking clarity on implementation and monitoring.

Questions Over Use of SCSP/TSP Funds

The government has been utilising SCSP/TSP funds, referring to the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and Scheduled Tribe Sub-Plan, for the scheme, as women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are among the beneficiaries.

However, since women have been allowed to travel free of cost by simply producing their Aadhaar card or other government-issued identity cards, concerns were raised not only by opposition members but also by some ruling party legislators regarding the availability of accurate data on the number of SC and ST women benefiting from the scheme. Questions were also raised about the basis on which SCSP and TSP funds were being allocated in the absence of a dedicated beneficiary tracking mechanism.