Youth, student groups criticise Karnataka Budget over jobs, education funding

Youth and student groups criticize Karnataka's 2026-27 Budget for inadequate job creation and insufficient education funding.

Student and youth organisations have criticised the State Budget for 2026-27, alleging that it fails to address the pressing issues of unemployment among youth and the declining state of public education.

In separate statements issued on Friday, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) said the ₹4.48-lakh crore Budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lacked a clear policy vision for employment generation and strengthening of the public education system.

The Karnataka State committee of DYFI described the Budget as “anti-youth”, stating that it did not offer concrete measures to address the growing unemployment crisis in the State. The organisation said that apart from the proposal to fill 56,432 posts, including 15,000 teaching positions in the Education Department, the Budget did not outline a comprehensive plan to fill the over 2 lakh vacant posts in various government departments.

“The proposal to focus on training programmes for unemployed youth without ensuring employment opportunities would not provide security to job aspirants. Instead of upgrading the Agriculture Department’s Raitha Call Centre using Artificial Intelligence, such work could provide employment to young people,” said DYFI State president Lavitra Vastrad in the statement.

The organisation also alleged that the Budget had allocated only limited resources to key social sectors, with about ₹47,224 crore earmarked for education and ₹17,817 crore for health.

“This accounts for only about 10% and 4% of the total Budget respectively, reflecting inadequate priority for public education and healthcare,” she said.