Karnataka: Fund crunch may doom laptop scheme

Walking a tightrope over its finances, the state government is considering scrapping the “free laptop” scheme — an ambitious programme of the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah benefiting students.

Citing severe shortage of funds to procure and distribute laptops for the 2020-21 academic year, the state government is on the verge of abandoning the scheme.

Confirming the decision to DH, highly placed sources in the Higher Education department said, “We (the department) have not sent any proposal seeking allocation of funds for the scheme in 2020-21 academic year.”

Every year, the department requires about Rs 280 crore to fund its free laptop scheme benefiting degree students of government colleges. The finance department has also raised objections.

“During the allocation of funds in the Budget in 2019-20, the finance department had raised objections. Because of fund shortage, the government could not implement the scheme in the last two years,” revealed a senior official.

What has got the state government worried is the rising cost of laptops with every passing year. “While we had procured laptops at a cost of Rs 14,500 per unit during 2016-17, it has now shot up to Rs 28,000 due to changes in the configuration and rising cost of various hardware parts,” the official explained.

It was in 2016-17 that the state government had launched free laptop scheme for undergraduate students. Laptops were distributed only during the first year. Further, the scheme was put on hold for students who had enrolled during 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years. However, resuming the scheme this year, the government distributed laptops to students who got admission during 2019-20.

According to data made available by the department, close to two lakh students in arts, commerce, science and professional courses at various degree colleges were covered under the scheme.

The scheme was riddled with controversies since its launch. At the time of the launch, the government had said that the programme was only for SC/ST students. However, it was extended to all students, following an uproar.

During procurement in the first year, the government courted yet another controversy over procurement costs following an objection by then commissioner Dr M N Ajay Nagabhushan. A House Committee was also formed to look into the controversy and submit a report.