Congress in Karnataka is giving out free bus rides to women... but not all women

The Congress government in Karnataka has started off with free bus rides for women and trans people as per the election promise. The free bus rides started on Sunday, June 11, and nearly 6 lakh women from the state availed of this facility. However, the Internet is abuzz with a few terms and conditions that are showing up now for this scheme. 

Terms and conditions applied:

• Under the Shakti scheme, only domiciled women and trans people in Karnataka will get free bus rides. 

• The government is rolling out the Shakti smart cards where women need to register online through sevasindhu.karnataka.gov.in to get this benefit. 
• Smart cards are yet to be issued and the portal to register for free bus rides doesn't have the option yet.  
• For now, women have been asked to furnish identity proof like an Aadhaar card or a voter ID card, either the original card or a photo on phone, which shows that they reside in Karnataka, to avail of this benefit. 
• This also means that women whose Aadhaar address is outside of Karnataka or whose voter ID is of another state may not be able to avail of a free bus ride. 
• However, so far, there don't seem to be any cases of women without Karnataka domicile proof being denied free bus rides. 

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• The problem with this condition is that Karnataka, especially its capital Bengaluru, is home to several migrants from other states, who don't necessarily have a Karnataka voter ID or Karnataka address on their Aadhaar cards. 
• Twitter users pointed out the hypocrisy of the condition and said that other states like Tamil Nadu, which also have free bus rides for women, don't have this domicile condition. 

• Some said that this condition was brought in to specifically please the Congress government's vote bank. 

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• On the other hand, free rides for women are only available on buses with "Free travel for women" stickers. This excludes AC and inter-state buses but covers most other government-owned buses. 
• Buses between districts in Karnataka which would have to pass through a different state are also free, but only for 20 km. 
• As bus rides have been made free for women, the government has also mandated 50% seat reservations for men. 

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The scheme has so far been winning hearts around Karnataka, except for some men on the Internet. Some men on Twitter have been busy complaining about the "discrimination" and a "waste" of taxpayer money. 

The benefits of allowing women free public transport have been noted too.

A survey of women in Tamil Nadu reported a reduced dependence on family members for travel requirements, which included not having to ask for money from family members or relying on them for free transport.

Women have been able to save anywhere around Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 per month on travel expenses alone in Tamil Nadu, allowing them to contribute the same for their household expenses. 

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