Karnataka Budget: Rohith Act, students' union elections in Siddaramaiah's announcements

While presenting the Karnataka Budget 2026-27 today, the chief minister Siddaramaiah has announced that the state will enact the Rohith Vemula Act and student union elections across all government, private, and deemed universities.

Karnataka CM further said students' union elections would be reinstated in the colleges and universities to “foster leadership qualities, responsibility, and democratic values” among students.

The draft Rohith Vemula Bill was discussed in the cabinet meeting on February 26. It was then decided that after obtaining certain inputs from the home department, it would be placed before the next cabinet meeting for finalisation.

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Rohith Vemula Bill

Named after Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) who died by suicide on January 17, 2016, the proposed law seeks to address caste-based discrimination and harassment faced by Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students in higher education institutions (HEIs).

Rohith Vemula Bill will be implemented to prevent caste-based discrimination against students across all government, private, and deemed universities in the state, CM said while presenting the state budget.

Last year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had written to Siddaramaiah, urging his government to bring a law named after Rohith Vemula, a Dalit scholar who died by suicide due to alleged discrimination in Telangana.

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Karnataka Education Budget 2026

Karnataka CM also announced that the University of Visveshvarayya College of Engineering (UVCE) will be developed on the model of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), at a total cost of Rs 500 crore.

On the Karnataka Higher Education Transformation Project, he said it is being implemented for Rs 2,500 crore with Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance to strengthen government first-grade colleges, polytechnics, and establish centres of excellence to improve research outcomes.

Furthermore, permission has been granted to fill a total of 2,000 teaching posts in government first-grade colleges, engineering colleges, polytechnics, and UVCE. In addition, the government will select 3,000 female STEM graduates for skill development and vocational training to improve employment opportunities in the technology and research sectors. With inputs from PTI