New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai on Friday announced to provide free education in government pre-university and government degree colleges in the state.

As mentioned by the Chief Minister, the move is likely to benefit around 8 lakh students studying the government schools. Over 500 students will get free education provided that they must have completed their studies in rural government Kannada medium schools and got selected for professional courses in government quota.

The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) will bear the fee expenses.

An incentive of Rs 50 lakh has alos been alloted to universities who have achieved excellence in the 10 good governance indices formulated by the higher education department.

While announcing the state Budget 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also declared that an amount of Rs 500 Crore has been allocated to set up a new medical college in Chitradurga district.

The Karnataka CM further said that post-graduate degree courses have been launched at Mandya and Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, with a new 450-bed hospital in Chamarajanagar that will provide tertiary care services.

In the state Budget 2023, a hospital on the lines of AIIMS in Raichur, with a super speciality hospital in Kumta, Uttara Kannada district to be established this year.

This is the second time when Basavraj Bommai announced the Budget as the Chief Minister. It is worth noting that this is also the last budget announced by the BJP in the on-going term.