Karnataka: Muslim volunteers distributing supplies to poor, assaulted by Sangh Parivar activists
Bengaluru: In an alleged incident reported from Bengaluru, a group of Sangh Parivar activists assaulted Muslim volunteers who were distributing food and essential supplies to poor in the wake of country-wide lockdown due to the spread of Corona Virus.
According to the volunteers who were assaulted, the attackers alleged that the Muslims were distributing poisoned, contaminated food supplies to further spread the Corona Virus, before assaulting with cricket bats.
One of the volunteers has reportedly sustained injuries during the incident and has been admitted to Ambedkar medical college in Shampur due to injuries.
The volunteers claimed that they were working for the NGO ‘Swaraj Abhiyan’
“23-year-old Syed Tabrez son of Zarin Taj, Bangalore district secretary of Swaraj Abhiyan and five others, Kiran, Junaid, Riyaz, Feroz and Amjad were attacked by RSS sympathizers for distributing essential supplies to families in the Dasarahalli slum in Bangalore today evening. The five were assaulted by more than 15 people with cricket bats. The mother of one of the victims who was at the location when the assault happened said that the accused threatened the five and said ‘Muslims are poisoning the rations, you people don't deliver food here, you Muslims have to leave the slum and relocate somewhere else'” a press statement from the organisation stated.
“On 04 April, the five who were distributing rations in the slum were threatened by the RSS sympathizers who told them to stop distributing essential products to families in the slum. Following the verbal threats, the five complianed to the Police Inspector in the Amrutahalli Police Station. They were given a verbal by assurance by the police that their complaints will be looked into. Today morning, the five informed the police that they will be distributing essential supplies in the slum” it further added.
Zarin Taj, speaking in a video after the incident has called on the police to carry thorough investigation into the matter and should take strict action against the accused.
An FIR has been registered into the matter against six unknown people at Amruthalli Police Station and investigations are underway.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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