Urdu organisations condemn deferment of Javed Akhtar event in Kolkata after protests
New Delhi: The West Bengal Urdu Academy’s decision to defer a programme featuring noted poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has drawn sharp criticism from Urdu cultural organisations in the United Kingdom. According to a report by The Wire, the cancellation followed opposition from Islamic groups in Kolkata, who objected to Akhtar’s participation on grounds that he had “mocked” religion and religious figures.
Two UK-based groups, Urdu Culture London and Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu UK, issued a joint statement condemning the move as “undemocratic” and “an attempt to silence literary and artistic expression.” They said, “While difference of opinion ought to be respected, coercion, intimidation and censorship have no place in a democratic society.” The organisations stressed that the deferment was especially troubling coming from Kolkata, a city historically regarded as a hub of pluralism and intellectual freedom.
As The Wire reported, the three-day festival titled ‘Hindi filmon mein Urdu ka kirdaar’ (The Role of Urdu in Hindi Cinema) was to include poetry readings and a discussion session with Akhtar. However, following objections by at least two Islamic organisations, including the Jamiat Ulama Kolkata, the Academy postponed the event without citing official reasons.
The UK-based Urdu organisations argued that Akhtar’s atheist views, even if regarded by some as irreverent, “can never justify the erasure of a voice.” They further warned that conflating Urdu with any one religion has already harmed the language’s growth in India. “For those of us committed to sustaining Urdu culture in the United Kingdom, it is profoundly disheartening to witness efforts to dismantle that culture in the very land of its birth,” their statement read.
Signatories Hilal Fareed, Annie Zaidi and Saif Mahmood urged the West Bengal government and cultural bodies to ensure that artists and writers are able to engage with audiences without fear of coercion. They emphasised that cancel culture is “the antithesis of democracy.”
Meanwhile, Javed Akhtar told The Hindu that he was “pained” by the protests. “Hindu groups tell me I should go to Pakistan, Muslim groups tell me I should change my name to a Hindu name. All of this is very familiar to me,” he said, adding that he “never imagined” such opposition would come from a city like Kolkata.
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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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