Karnataka govt announces social media ban for children under age of 16

BENGALURU: Karnataka main curate Siddaramaiah connected Friday said the authorities authorities is readying a societal media prohibition for children beneath 16 years portion presenting the authorities fund for 2026–27."Social media volition beryllium banned for children nether the property of 16 to forestall the adverse effects of expanding mobile usage. The prohibition is aimed astatine preventing the antagonistic interaction connected children caused by expanding mobile telephone usage, " Siddaramaiah said."AI and Tech parkland nether IISC volition acceptable up a robotics and AI field called Bangalore Robotics and AI innovation portion successful collaboration with ISRO and Keonics," helium added further. Presenting his 17th budget, Siddaramaiah besides criticised the Centre, saying it was doing injustice to the authorities by not adhering to the national strategy of governance arsenic laid retired successful the constitution.

He said the authorities authorities was pursuing a improvement strategy that balances payment programmes with investments successful infrastructure and semipermanent economical transformation, portion urging the Union authorities to beryllium much delicate to the state’s demands.

Siddaramaiah said Karnataka remains astatine the forefront of the nation’s improvement and is among the largest contributors of taxation revenues to the country. "Our authorities is astatine the forefront successful each sectors of the nation’s development; it is 1 of the cardinal states that contributes the highest taxation revenues,” helium said.

Total expenditure for 2026–27 is estimated astatine Rs 4,48,004 crore, Siddaramaiah said. State fund of Rs 4,48,004 croreA authorities fund of Rs 4,48,004 crore for the fiscal twelvemonth 2026–27, outlining plans centred connected technology-driven growth, infrastructure improvement and biology sustainability.CM said Karnataka continues to play a distinctive relation successful nationalist and planetary commercialized and that accelerated advances successful artificial quality are transforming accumulation systems worldwide. He added that technological and technological innovation is progressively shaping the state’s improvement trajectory. In that context, the main curate said the fund had been framed with “responsibility and foresight” and with a resoluteness to “turn occurrence into light”. However, helium besides flagged concerns implicit falling gross maturation pursuing the rationalisation of rates nether the Goods and Services Tax successful September 2025. According to the government, Karnataka’s mean monthly GST gross maturation successful 2025–26 was astir 10% earlier the changes, aft accounting for refunds. After the revised rates came into effect, the mean monthly maturation slowed sharply to astir 4%. The restructuring is expected to trim the state’s GST collections by astir Rs 10,000 crore successful the existent fiscal twelvemonth and by astir Rs 15,000 crore successful the adjacent year. Among the cardinal announcements was a program to found an artificial quality centre successful Bengaluru. Two centres of excellence volition beryllium acceptable up successful collaboration with the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms and NASSCOM astatine a outgo of Rs 16 crore. The authorities besides announced the constitution of a leopard rehabilitation installation astatine Bannerghatta Biological Park.

The Rs 5-crore centre volition location and rehabilitate leopards captured from residential areas connected the outskirts of the city. To tackle municipality flooding, the authorities volition instrumentality catastrophe absorption projects successful Bengaluru nether the Karnataka Water Security and Resilience Programme, a World Bank-funded initiative. The programme volition tally for 5 years with an estimated outlay of Rs 5,000 crore. The main curate besides said the excise section had introduced integer counselling for the transportation of Group-C cadre officers, including excise inspectors and constables, successful an effort to amended transparency. The strategy volition present beryllium extended to transfers of lawman superintendents and superintendents successful the department.