Karnataka News: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented the state budget for the year 2026-27. During the budget he announced that the government is planning to ban social media for children under 16 years of age, to prevent the negative impact of increased mobile use on children.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that excessive use of mobile phones and social media is having a negative impact on the mental and physical health of children. Keeping this in mind, the state government is working on a plan to ban social media for children below 16 years of age.

New Innovation Zone for AI and Robotics

Many big announcements were also made in the budget to promote the technology sector. Under this, “Bengaluru Robotics and AI Innovation Zone” will be established in Bengaluru in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science, Indian Space Research Organization and KEONICS. This will be a modern robotics and artificial intelligence campus, which will promote technology innovation.

Targeted at the central government

While presenting his 17th budget, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also criticized the policies of the Government of India. He said that the Central Government is not properly following the federal structure mentioned in the Constitution, due to which injustice is being done to the states. He also appealed to the Center to be more sensitive towards the demands of the states.

Budget of Rs 4.48 lakh crore

The Chief Minister said that the total budget of the state for the financial year 2026-27 is estimated to be Rs 4,48,004 crore. In this budget, special attention has been given to technology-based development, infrastructure creation and environmental sustainability.

He said that Karnataka is playing an important role in national and global trade and the rapid progress in the field of Artificial Intelligence is changing the production system around the world. Scientific and technological innovations are giving new direction to the development of the state.