In the 2017-2018 state budget presented by Siddaramaiah, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, the government announced the launch of its ‘Yuva Yuga’ program in the state to train 1.10 lakh youth in the state in Information Technology (IT), electronics and, animation.

The Yuva Yuga programme was announced by the Karnataka government in the 2015-16 budget, where it had allocated Rs 10 crore to set up training centres in all the districts of the state. The programme will be officially launched in this financial year, the CM said.

Then labour minister Parmeshwar Naik had said that the “Yuva Yuga” centres would be opened in every district to provide adequate training to urban as well as rural youth to enhance their skills to help them get employment. Officials were asked to create a concept note regarding the same.

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The government has committed to supporting the development of new technologies in the state and has allocated a budget for this. CM Siddaramaiah focussed on latest technologies such as AI, Robotics in his latest budget.

Here are a few plans mentioned in the current budget:

• Establishment of ‘Centre of Excellence in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence’ and Cyber Security Centre.
• Rs 5 crore to establish an Artificial Intelligence and Robotics centre at Indian Institute of Hardware Technology, Bengaluru.
• Rs 2 crore to pilot an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) in the field of agriculture, urban development and heritage destinations.
• Free Wi-Fi in all Gram Panchayats
• Establishment of VLSI Incubator and Brown Field ESDM Cluster in Hubbali.
• Construction of 3-D mini planetarium at Madikeri and Gadag at an estimated cost of Rs 5.75 cr each.
• E-governance: KSWAN 2.0 (Karnataka State Wide Area Network) to be implemented in the next five years at a cost of Rs 800 crore to cover 10,000 government offices.

Also see: Interview with Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge 

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