Is Karnataka's Free Transport Scheme for Women Sustainable in the Long Run?

The newly-announced 'Shakti' scheme has 2 major loopholes: a massive financial burden and serious privacy concerns.

One of the five poll promises made by the Karnataka Congress, namely free transportation for women and transgender persons in buses run by the state's transport corporations, was rolled out on Sunday, 11 June.

A day after the 'Shakti' scheme was set in motion, over 40 lakh women availed the service and travelled in public buses for free.

Jayakar Shetty, divisional controller of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) for the Puttur division, told The Quint, "The response (to the Shakti scheme) is very good. A majority of women travelling in the state are doing so in government buses."

He further said, "Those who were earlier travelling in private buses have shifted to government buses after the implementation of the scheme."

However, for those women passengers who hold domicile status and want to avail the service, the Karnataka government will be issuing 'smart cards' within three months. Until then, women will have to show their government IDs to bus conductors to prove that they are residents of the state.

While the scheme is targeted towards social welfare, and seems to be earning praise at the moment, there are two major hurdles that could plague it in the long-run – a massive financial burden and serious privacy concerns.

Cost To the State Exchequer

The most obvious hiccup is the startling amount of money that the state exchequer will have to dole out to sustain the scheme in the long run.

The Karnataka government has said that it will reimburse all four state-run transport corporations for the expenses incurred for providing free transportation for women. This is bound to bleed the state's treasury heavily.

For instance, on Monday, 12 June – which was the first weekday when the Shakti scheme was operational, the cost to the state was Rs 8.84 crore. On Tuesday, over 50 lakh women availed the free service, costing the state Rs 10.82 crore.

If this pattern continues, the total cost is expected to exceed Rs 4,000 crore annually. Further, a report submitted by the state transport department says that more than 4,028 buses will be have to added in the government's fleet to absorb the surge in passengers.

Shetty also told The Quint that since the scheme became active, there has been overcrowding in several places. "There is a huge surge of passengers in buses heading towards religious places like Dharmasthala. That is causing some difficulty."

Hence, the successful implementation of the scheme is not only a mammoth financial task, but a taxing administrative one as well.

The Flip Side: Empowering Women's Mobility

Vibhuti Patel, an economist, told The Quint that women's lack of mobility can also be attributed to the fact that they have very little control over their money – and free transportation could be key to keeping more women in the workforce.

"Only 19 percent of women are currently in the workforce, out of which over 92 percent of women are in the informal sector, getting the bare minimum for the survival of their household. They have to walk for miles to get their daily survival needs. So, naturally, they benefit from free transport," Patel added.

The economist also asserted her strong objection to the term 'freebies' when it comes to welfare schemes for poor and marginalised people.

"Instead of focusing on the unjust and exploitative systems perpetrated by the macroeconomic policies that accentuate socio-economic inequalities, which result in the social exclusion of women from human development, we are categorising a social inclusive measure such as free transport as a 'freebie'."

Apart from the Shakti scheme, there are four other welfare services which the Congress had promised in its manifesto. These include:

• Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 monthly support to the woman head of each family)

• Gruha Jyoti (free electricity upto 200 units every month for every household)

• Yuva Nidhi (Rs 3,000 monthly for unemployed graduate youths and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders for a period of two years)

• Anna Bhagya (10 kg of free rice to all members of 'Below Poverty Line' households)

Thus, many have cast aspersions on whether the state government will be able to foot the bill for so many welfare measures, which are to be implemented across the length and breath of a state as massive as Karnataka.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, however, dismissed doubts regarding the pragmatic implementation of the schemes.

"It is not important how much we are spending, but on whom we are spending it on. There is no benefit if money is in a rich man’s pocket. But, there are benefits (to the economy) if there is money in a poor man’s (pocket) as it will enter the markets," he said while flagging off the Shakti scheme at the Kempegowda Bus Terminal in Bengaluru on Sunday, according to The Indian Express.

Privacy Concerns

There is another point of concern that is being overlooked right now – privacy of women passengers who are availing the free transport.

Once smart cards are issued to beneficiaries, the total cost incurred by state transport corporations will be calculated on the basis of the total distance travelled by each woman passenger.

In other words, every time a woman boards and de-boards a bus, she will have to tap her smart card on a machine. Hence, the state will have a record of where a woman boarded a bus and where she got off.

While such smart cards have been implemented across the world, as a single means to access multiple modes of transport, and at a time when similar data can be collected using metro cards in major cities in India, do the benefits here outweigh the risks?

In places like Delhi and Tamil Nadu – where similar schemes are in place – no such cards are needed, but instead zero value card is issued to keep a track of number of women passengers who have availed the services, also safeguarding their privacy.

"When female users shows their smart card to avail free transport on a bus, the government will know how many times they have availed the scheme and how they are using it," Srinivas Kodali, independent researcher on data privacy and tech expert, told The Quint.

Not only this, the government will be able to study the travel pattern of passengers – such as whether an individual travels on the same route every day, whether they travel from home to work, and how often do they travel on weekends, etc.

Kodali also said that if there is a breach in the system, the data which includes transport patterns of different women may fall into the wrong hands.

"For instance, there may be sale of this data, which will include the location of several women. So, it may go to political parties or marketing agencies which want to advertise their woman-centric products better and thus want to know where women are travelling."

Srinivas Kodali to The Quint

Recommending an alternative system that keeps privacy intact, he said that the government can choose to continue with the provision of monthly and yearly travel passes.

"That is the best model. Because if you have a pass, you can just show it to the bus conductor and go wherever you want," he said.

While a passenger will still have to provide their photo ID to get a pass made, the privacy risks involved are much lower as compared to smart cards. "In this system, the government won't get to know where you are travelling. So privacy risk is minimal," Kodali asserted.

(With inputs from Meenakshy Sasikumar.)