A social media post accompanies a newspaper advertisement related to the Karnataka state minorities development corporation scheme, which offers subsidies for the purchase of vehicles. This advertisement is being shared with a claim alluding that the state government is offering such a subsidy scheme to Muslims and thereby appeasing the community. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Karnataka’s Congress government offering vehicle subsidy for Muslims and there by appeasing the community.
Fact: Karnataka government is offering subsidies for purchase of taxi/goods vehicle/passenger autorickshaw. However, the scheme is applicable to all the religious minorities, not just the Muslims. Additionally, the earlier BJP government also implemented the scheme, and is not the initiative launched by the current Congress government. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
It is true that Karnataka’s Congress government is offering subsidies for the purchase of taxis/goods vehicles/passenger autorickshaws under the Swavalambi Sarathi scheme. Beneficiaries of the scheme will be provided with a subsidy of 50% of the value of the vehicle or a maximum subsidy of Rs. 3.00 Lakhs.
However, the scheme is not just confined to the Muslim community, but is applicable to all religious minorities. Further, under the Swavalambi Sarathi Scheme, the government is providing subsidies for buying electric vehicles to the unemployed youth of SC, ST, and backward classes also.
Moreover, the scheme was also implemented by the earlier BJP government and is not a new initiative of the current Congress government, as asserted in the viral post. Information related to the budget and the number of vehicles allocated under the scheme for the year 2021-22 can be viewed here.
Additionally, tweets (here & here) from the Department of Minority Welfare from 2021 and 2022 promoting the scheme confirm that it was operational during the previous government’s tenure.
To sum it up, the former BJP-led Karnataka government also offered subsidized vehicles to religious minorities.
