BENGALURU: Marking 100 days of Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's government, the state cabinet on Wednesday approved a slew of measures targeting farmers, industrial workers, students, youth and the public.
Especially the ‘Chief Minister Negila Yogi’ scheme, a farmer-centric initiative, is aimed at bringing fallow agricultural land back under cultivation.
The scheme, with an initial outlay of Rs 152.28 crore, seeks to encourage mechanised agricultural operations and provide free land-ploughing services to small and marginal farmers who are unable to cultivate their holdings due to lack of access to tractors and other machinery.
It will be rolled out as a pilot in 31 taluks, one in each district, covering farmers owning up to three acres of agricultural land. The government will hire tractors locally or deploy machinery from the agriculture department to plough and prepare the land free of cost. The government is also considering procuring around 500 tractors. If successful, the scheme will be expanded to all taluks.
After the cabinet meeting, Deputy CM Dr G Parameshwara told reporters that the government wants to bring cultivable but fallow land back into production. The idea was inspired by the successful use of tractors in Gauribidanur by MLA KH Puttaswamy Gowda, who was elected as an independent and later joined Congress, he said.
“The government will hire local tractors to plough and prepare the land for free for eligible farmers,” he said.
Govt okays student union elections from next year
The pilot of ‘Chief Minister Negila Yogi’ scheme will be started with an initial provision of Rs 152 crore, targeting roughly 59 lakh smallholding farmers,” he said.
The cabinet also approved the ‘Thega Siri’ (Teak Tree Stewardship Scheme) for 2026-29 with an outlay of Rs 493 crore. Under the scheme, the Forest Department will plant teak saplings along public roads. Farmers owning the adjoining land will be given tree rights, or ‘tree pattas’, and they will have to care for the trees. Once trees mature, which is expected to take 10-15 years, 70% of the proceeds will go to the farmers and 30% to the government.
To address housing and commuting difficulties of industrial workers, the government has proposed the ‘Shramika Nivasa’ initiative. Under the scheme, large industrial units will be encouraged to construct around 10,000 houses close to their workplace. The state will allocate land, including KIADB plots, at subsidised rates and will also extend subsidies.
The initiative will cover sectors, including IT and biotechnology, with guidelines from the department concerned on the size of rooms and essential amenities in these accommodations.
The cabinet approved an IT-enabled tele-ICU network based on a hub-and-spoke model, linking 11 hubs and 131 spokes covering 185 centres, at a cost of Rs 10.78 crore. It will facilitate digitisation and management of patient data, including X-rays and ECGs.
A digital radiography project costing Rs 40.50 crore was also approved for 162 government hospitals to replace manual radiology systems and enable digital transmission and expert evaluation of scans.
The cabinet approved the revival of student union elections in colleges and universities from the 2026-27 academic year.
The decision follows consultations and visits to higher educational institutions by a committee headed by Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil.
Each student union will have a president, two vice-presidents including one woman, one general secretary, two joint secretaries including one woman, and six executive committee members including two women.
“There will be no caste or religion-based reservation,” Parameshwara said.
While colleges and universities will be required to conduct elections, students can opt out, he clarified. The government will prevent student organisations from functioning as fronts for political parties, though individual students can be members of political organisations.
Under the State Network Grid Plan, ring roads will be developed around 172 local planning areas, including Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and taluk headquarters, to divert through-traffic away from town centres.
A 2 km impact/buffer green zone will be designated along the periphery, where unauthorised constructions will be restricted.
The Cabinet approved the New Textile and Readymade Garments Policy 2026-31, targeting Rs 20,000 crore in private investment and substantial employment generation over five years. The policy proposes apparel parks and incentives to encourage industries to move beyond Bengaluru into 33 identified focus taluks.
Eligible units will receive a 5% credit-linked capital subsidy and a power tariff subsidy of Rs 2 per unit. The government is expected to provide around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore in capital support.
The government will introduce physical Shakti smart cards for women for free bus travel at an estimated cost of Rs 237 crore under a public-private partnership model. The state’s share will be Rs 100 crore.
