Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre announced on June 4 that the new government, led by Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, has introduced key initiatives to enhance education and employment.
These include providing free bus passes to all school students and accelerating recruitment for thousands of vacant government positions.
Addressing ANI, Khandre stated, “School children… previously what used to happen is that the school children used to pay some subsidized amount for the bus passes. Now we have decided that all bus passes will be free. They need not pay anything. It is to encourage the students. It will increase enrollment, motivation and attendance in schools. Even for socially poor families, it will be attractive for the parents to send their children to schools.”
In his first press interaction as Chief Minister, Shivakumar announced that free bus passes will be made available to all school and college students throughout Karnataka. Shivakumar was sworn in as the 34th Chief Minister on June 3, with G Parameshwara appointed Deputy Chief Minister and 12 ministers, including Khandre, inducted into the cabinet.
Reflecting on the previous Congress government's record, Khandre remarked, “We have done a lot of good works in the last three years. Whatever promises were made have been implemented. Whatever was declared in the manifesto has also been implemented.”
Khandre further explained that the cabinet discussed various development concerns, including Bengaluru’s infrastructure, rural development, education, and employment generation. He noted that the Chief Minister has formed committees to examine key policy areas and provide recommendations.
The minister identified unemployment and rising inflation as significant challenges facing Karnataka. He outlined the government's plan to fill 56,492 vacant posts across departments through a transparent recruitment process. “Today we discussed in detail the method of recruitment. The youth should get confidence, and there should be a timeline for filling all these posts,” he said, adding that the Chief Secretary was instructed to coordinate recruitment schedules with relevant departments.
Addressing changes in the job market, Khandre mentioned plans for government collaboration with private industry to create employment opportunities. “With artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning changing the job market, there is distress among youth. We have to address this issue,” he said.
He also stated that ministers have been directed to prepare proposals on key issues for the next cabinet meeting, focusing on effective governance and employment generation.