Bengaluru, 6 March

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the State will enact the Rohith Vemula Bill to prevent caste-based atrocities against students in government, private and deemed universities.

The proposed legislation is named after Dalit PhD scholar from Gunthur Rohith Vemula, who died by suicide in 2016 following alleged discrimination in Telangana.

Siddaramaiah also announced the reinstatement of students’ union elections in colleges and universities.

He also said the Karnataka Higher Education Transformation Project will be implemented at Rs 2,500 crore from the Asian Development Bank.

Under this, 40 government first grade colleges and 11 polytechnics will be developed as model institutions, while nine Centres of Excellence will be set up to promote entrepreneurship and start-up culture.

New courses

The government will introduce 15 new high-demand courses, including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Mining Engineering and Automation Engineering, in 11 government polytechnics and a government engineering college in Chitradurga.

In partnership with AnitaB.org India, skill development training will be provided to 3,000 female STEM graduates at Rs 13.5 crore. The State has allocated Rs 31 crore to upgrade institutions with more than 50 per cent female enrolment and Rs 220 crore for equipment procurement.