Karnataka’s Cabinet has approved Rs 14 crore for K-Monitor, a statewide impact assessment exercise that will examine whether welfare schemes, including the Congress government’s five guarantee programmes, are reaching intended beneficiaries and improving their lives.
The initiative will combine a randomised survey with field research to assess the reach, effectiveness and outcomes of government welfare programmes. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said the exercise would identify leakages, implementation gaps and changes needed in scheme design and delivery.
Under K-Monitor, around one lakh beneficiaries will be identified and 60,000 responses will be collected. The assessment will examine the educational, social and economic effects of welfare programmes, rather than limiting the review to whether benefits were formally distributed.
“It will also help the government assess the educational, social and economic impact of welfare programmes,” Gowda said while announcing the Cabinet decision.
The study will cover welfare programmes implemented by the state, including Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, Anna Bhagya, Shakti and Yuva Nidhi. These schemes provide monthly financial assistance to women heads of families, subsidised or free household electricity up to a specified limit, food grains, free public bus travel for women residents and temporary unemployment support for recent graduates and diploma holders.
The government said the study would also assess beneficiary-oriented programmes such as sewing machine distribution. In such cases, the review is expected to examine not only whether assistance reached recipients but also whether it produced a measurable change in their circumstances.
K-Monitor is also expected to produce an ‘efficiency index’ for welfare schemes. The index will allow policymakers to compare programmes and identify those that generate greater public benefit, according to the minister. Gowda said the assessment would help the government understand the efficiency of its spending and determine which schemes require improvement or corrective measures.
The exercise places implementation quality alongside budgetary allocation in the review of welfare programmes. For urban households, the findings could provide evidence on how benefits linked to electricity, food security, women’s mobility, household income and youth employment are being received and used.
The project will culminate in a report containing recommendations on scheme design and delivery. The government has not provided a completion date in the announcement, but the approved field study will be based on responses gathered from the identified beneficiary pool.
