Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds Finance portfolio, presented his tenth State Budget on Friday, announcing multiple schemes including ‘Pashu Bhagya scheme’.

The new scheme provides subsidies to the farmers to set up cattle, sheep, goat, pig and poultry units. It seeks to provide subsidy to the tune of 33 per cent to farmers from the Scheduled Castes/Tribes and 25 per cent to other small and marginal farmers on the loans to a maximum extent of Rs. 1.20 lakh availed from commercial banks.

The Finance Minister also announced setting up of a Centralised Helpline facility to provide veterinary services at the farmers’ doorsteps by levying service charges.

The budget has also been proposed to provide interest-free short-term loans through co-operative banks on the lines of crop loans for taking care of expenses towards cattle feed and other maintenances. To encourage sheep/goat rearing, grants to the Karnataka Sheep and Wool Development Corporation has been proposed to be increased by fourfold. In the present year, an allocation of Rs. 25 crore would be made to this Corporation.

The budget also proposes to widen the network of Karnataka Milk Federation by setting up 750 new milk producers’ co-operative societies in north Karnataka at a cost of Rs. 16 crore.