Karnataka to enact Rohith Vemula Bill to curb caste discrimination on campus

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced that the state will enact a Rohith Vemula Bill aimed at preventing caste-based discrimination and atrocities against students across government, private and deemed universities in the state.

Presenting the Karnataka Budget in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah said the proposed legislation would seek to address caste-based harassment in higher education institutions.

“Rohith Vemula Bill will be enacted to prevent atrocities on caste lines on students across all government, private and deemed universities in the state,” the chief minister said.

The proposed law is named after Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar who died by suicide in 2016 at the University of Hyderabad amid allegations of caste discrimination. Last year, Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had written to Siddaramaiah urging his government to introduce a law in Vemula’s name to address caste-based discrimination faced by students.

The draft Rohith Vemula Bill was discussed at a cabinet meeting on 26 February. According to the state government, it was decided that the proposal would be placed before the next cabinet meeting for finalisation after incorporating inputs from the home department.

Alongside the proposed legislation, Siddaramaiah announced several measures aimed at strengthening higher education in the state. He said students’ union elections would be reinstated in colleges and universities to foster leadership, responsibility and democratic values among students.

The chief minister also said the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering would be developed on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore. The state government has already allocated Rs 100 crore for the project and will provide another Rs 100 crore during the current financial year, he said.

Siddaramaiah further said the Karnataka Higher Education Transformation Project is being implemented at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore with assistance from the Asian Development Bank. The initiative aims to strengthen government first-grade colleges and polytechnics, establish Centres of Excellence and improve research outcomes.

Under the programme, 40 government first-grade colleges and 11 polytechnics are being developed as model institutions. Nine Centres of Excellence will also be set up with ADB assistance to promote entrepreneurship and start-up culture among students.

The chief minister announced that 15 new courses with high demand and employment potential — including artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, mining engineering and automation engineering — will be introduced in 11 government polytechnics and a government engineering college in Chitradurga.

In a move aimed at improving working conditions for academic staff, Siddaramaiah said all female guest lecturers working in government first-grade colleges, polytechnics and engineering colleges would be entitled to 90 days of maternity leave from the next academic year.

He added that the government has approved the recruitment of 2,000 teaching posts in government first-grade colleges, engineering colleges, polytechnics and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering. The recruitment process will be completed soon, he said, while another 1,000 teaching posts in public universities will be filled in phases after rationalisation.

The state government will also partner with AnitaB.org India to provide skill development and vocational training for 3,000 early-career female STEM graduates at a cost of Rs 13.5 crore.

To improve infrastructure for women students, Rs 31 crore has been allocated to upgrade government degree colleges, three polytechnics and three engineering colleges where female students account for more than 50 per cent of enrolment.

In the healthcare sector, Siddaramaiah said Rs 620 crore has been earmarked in FY 2026–27 for the construction of medical colleges, hospitals and super-speciality hospitals, with an additional Rs 220 crore allocated for procurement of equipment.

He said works for a 450-bed multi-speciality hospital costing Rs 198 crore at Karwar, a trauma care centre worth Rs 10 crore at Raichur, and peripheral cancer centres in Mysuru and Tumakuru costing Rs 92 crore have been completed.

The state government has also signed an agreement with the Azim Premji Foundation to build a 1,000-bed charitable super-speciality tertiary care and organ transplant hospital at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases.

With PTI inputs