Younger population now falling prey to head and neck cancer: Experts
Kolkata, July 27 : As much as 30 to 40 per cent of males and 11-16 per cent of females among those afflicted with malignancies in India are head and neck cancer patients, experts said here on Friday, expressing concern over the younger population now falling prey to the malady.
"Head and neck cancer patients pose a significant problem in our country, constituting 30-40 per cent of all cancers in male and almost 11-16 per cent in females and there is a need to spread proper awareness," surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay said here at the launch of the West Bengal Head and Neck Society.
Mukhopadhyay, a senior trustee of the society, said annually over 200,000 such cancers occur in India out of which 80,000 are oral cancers.
According to him, lifestyle behaviour like chewing tobacco, betel leaves and also smoking remain the main reasons for such a high incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancer.
The symptoms of head and neck cancer can be any persisting ulcers inside the mouth, change in voice, problem in swallowing food, a painless lump inside the neck for almost 4 weeks, chronic coughing, bleeding from ears, nose or throat and so on.
According to P.N. Mahapatra, a senior oncologist and senior trustee of the society, maximum number of mouth cancer is seen in patients after the age of 55.
"But there is an alarming trend towards the younger patient population. Malignancy of thyroid gland affecting all age groups is also rising and India stands second in prevalence of oesophageal cancer after China."
Mukhopadhyay said the newly formed society would create awareness about head and neck cancer in the state.
"Our primary focus is on cohesive work, communication between Public and Private sector, through scientific seminars, awareness camps, conferences and workshops to give world-class facilities to patients," he said.
Another senior oncologist Aniruddha Dam said the society would try to fill up the gap between city and district-based diagnosis of such cancers.
According to him, there is a need for a population based cancer registry for head and neck cancer, and the society aims to reach out to the maximum number of hospitals in that regard.
He also said that training of the upcoming doctors will help in early diagnosis and give the best treatment to the patients of head and neck cancer.
This year, the World Tour of International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies will be held in Kolkata from October 26-28.
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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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