Threats via email: Delhi Police plans to have bomb disposal, detection, dog squads in each district
New Delhi (PTI): After bomb threats over email to schools, hospitals and other establishments in the national capital, the Delhi Police has planned to expand its bomb detection, disposal and dog squads in each of its district for swift action, official sources said.
There are five bomb disposal squads, 18 bomb detection teams and one dog squad with 70 canines for Delhi's 15 police districts. All three units are under the Crime Branch.
In the past two months, there have been at least seven instances of hospitals, schools, colleges, museums, railway establishments, prisons and government offices getting bomb threats via email that were sent using virtual private networks (VPN) or proxy servers.
The threats were later found to be hoaxes and are being investigated by the Special Cell.
The sources said whenever such a threat is received, the entire machinery of the administration is tasked with sweeping the premises.
After the local police, the bomb detection, disposal and dog squads are first responders in such emergencies, they said.
But due to the limited resources available with these units, the personnel are overworked and that leads to a higher probability of mishaps, they added.
An official source said there is a plan to increase the strength of these squads and setting up dedicated units for each police district of Delhi.
This will help the force act swiftly during emergencies, the source said and added that a plan has been drafted and the files sent to the higher authorities for approval.
According to the proposal, the bomb detection, disposal and dog squads will be divided with the induction of more personnel.
There is a proposal to buy gadgets for bomb detection, disposal as well as bulletproof jackets.
The dog squad, which currently has 61 sniffers, six trackers and three for detecting narcotics, may be distributed among each police district.
The number of dogs and handlers will also be increased if the proposal is approved, the sources said.
According to official data, the Delhi Police's dog squad has 27 labrador retrievers, 18 Belgian shepherds (malinois), 16 German shepherd, and nine golden retrievers aged between six and nine months.
On average, each dog serves the force for around nine years, after which they are handed over to non-government organisations following their retirement, an officer said.
There are dedicated dog squad units at a few locations but the police's plan proposes to set up units in its Shahdara, South, Rohini, Southeast, Outer, Outernorth, Northeast and Dwarka districts, the official source said.
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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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