CM Siddaramaiah announces Rohith Vemula Act, student union elections in Karnataka

Bengaluru, March 7: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday, March 6, announced that the state government would enact an anti-discrimination law named after Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.  The Act will be applicable across all institutions – public, private and deemed. The CM made the announcement while presenting the budget. However, the details about its implementation are yet to be disclosed.

“The Rohith Vemula Act will be enacted to prevent atrocities on caste lines on students across all government, private, and deemed universities in the state,” Siddaramaiah said during his speech.

The Congress government implementing the Rohith Act assumes significance as the University Grants Commission had recently stalled the implementation of the amended University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012. The new rules – which addressed caste, gender, and disability-based discrimination on campuses – were stalled by the Union government following the intervention of the Supreme Court, which said that the regulations were  “vague and capable of misuse.”

The announcement during the budget also assumes significance as it comes a week after the state Cabinet discussed the draft Rohith Vemula Act.

Named after Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at University of Hyderabad who died by suicide on January 17, 2016, the proposed law aims to address caste-based discrimination and harassment faced by Dalits and Adivasis in higher education institutions.

During a Cabinet meeting on February 26, Ministers approved the draft bill. However, Home Minister G Parameshwara suggested that the draft be sent to the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE) for its suggestions.

A Minister present at the meeting earlier told TNM that once the DCRE incorporated its recommendations, the draft would be presented at the next Cabinet meeting on March 5.

However, after the Cabinet meeting on March 5, the day before the budget, the draft Rohith Act was not discussed.

When asked whether the bill might be tabled during the ongoing budget session, the Minister did not rule out the possibility. “We might discuss it during the next Cabinet meeting. There is time during this session,” the Minister said.

In another major step, CM Siddaramaiah also announced that student union elections will be held in colleges and universities, fundamentally changing the academic environment in the state.

“Student union elections will be conducted in colleges and universities to foster leadership, responsibility, and democratic values among students,” he said.

However, unlike the announcement on the Rohith Act, the Chief Minister did not mention whether private colleges would also be required to hold elections.

After six months of dropping hints, the Congress party appointed a panel in December 2025 to examine whether student elections could be introduced in the state.

Months before the panel was formed, MLC Saleem Ahmed had said that the government would first introduce student elections in state-run institutions.