Time extended to upload blocked applications: Minister Khader
Rajiv Gandhi Housing Scheme
Mangaluru, September 23: Housing and Urban Development Minister UT Khader said that if the applications of Rajiv Gandhi Housing Scheme were blocked or the beneficiaries were finding it difficult to upload them for various reasons even after laying foundation or beginning the construction work in the gram panchayat levels, the respective PDOs should verify them and take steps to upload the applications.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, the Minister said that following the request of the eligible beneficiaries, the PDOs should verify and upload the applications for 15 days from September 25. Earlier, the government has given time till September 20 to upload such blocked applications in the website. Total 69,000 applications were blocked for various reasons and when verified them, 18,000 eligible applications were again uploaded. Now, the time was extended for the eligible beneficiaries to get the benefit. If the beneficiaries provided information to their panchayats, the respective PDOs should verify them and submit the report immediately, he said.
In the current year, the Housing department has planned to construct 4 lakh houses in the state. Till now, priority was given to construct houses in rural areas. Now, urban areas would also be considered for the purpose, he said.
In urban areas, the local bodies should identify the places and prepare the list of beneficiaries to the department. In urban areas, it was planned to construct apartments. In city corporation limits, the government has decided to develop the layouts in private land at 50:50 ratio. The Housing Board has already approved the proposal of joint development. As per this, the government would provide basic infrastructure and market facility and 50 per cent houses constructed in the project could be sold by the land owners, the Minister said.
Sand problem
As sand mining was banned in Kerala, there was sand problem in coastal region. For money, the sand was being supplied to Kerala for high price. In view of this, the Kerala government has to find a solution for the sand problem. So, the government was advised to send the sand imported from other countries through GPS enabled lorries with police security from the ports. This would ease the sand problem in the coastal region, he said.
The Chief Minister has convened a meeting of deputy commissioners on September 24 to discuss the sand and land conversion issues and the problem could be solved, he said.
Mangaluru Dasara will get all facilities
Minister Khader said that the government would provide all needed facilities to conduct the Mangaluru Dasara in a grand manner.
Government is safe
“The coalition government has no threat. It is safe. Unable to tolerate the popularity of the coalition government due to good programmes, the opposition party has created confusion. The BJP has demanded that the government should waive off the farm loans within a week of taking over the charge. The coalition government has managed it efficiently. It has also managed the flood and natural disaster situations in Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts. But the power-hungry BJP has been showing its political culture for power. But the BJP would not succeed in its efforts”, he 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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