India ends ISSF Junior World Championship with 30 medals, tops table
Lima (PTI): Indian shooters Anish Bhanwala, Adarsh SIngh and Vijayveer Sidhu combined to win the gold medal in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol team event as the country ended the ISSF Junior World Championship on top of the standings here.
The Indian trio shot a total of 10 to finish ahead of their German counterparts Fabian Otto, Felix Luca Hollfoth and Tobias Gsoell (2) in the gold medal contest on Friday.
India's Manvi Soni (105) bagged the junior double trap gold medal ahead of compatriot Yeshaya Hafiz Contractor (90). The bronze was won by Hitasha (76) in an event that only featured Indians.
Vinay Pratap Singh Chandrawat claimed the gold medal men's double trap event with a score of 120, while the silver went to Sehajpreet Singh (114) and the bronze to Mayank Shokeen (/111).
Earlier on Friday, Ayushi Podder and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won the silver in the 50m rifle 3 positions mixed team event to continue India's dominance in the tournament.
Ayushi and Aishwary shot 17 in the gold medal match to finish second to the 31 shot by the German pair of Max Braun and Anna Janssen. The Indian duo had topped the qualification round with a world record-equalling score of 590, with the eventual gold medallists finishing in second spot.
The other Indian team of Nischal and Sartaj Singh Tiwana finished eighth in the qualification round with a score of 574. This was after the Indian pair of Rhythm Sangwan and Vijayveer Sidhu clinched the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team gold medal.
Sangwan and Sidhu defeated Thailand's Kanyakorn Hirunphoem and Schwakon Triniphakorn 9-1 to fetch India's 10th gold of the ongoing event.
The country also claimed the bronze medal in this event with Tejaswani and Anish triumphing 10-8 against another Thai team in Chawisa Paduka and Ram Khamhaeng.
In the junior women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, Prasiddhi Mahant, Nishcal and Ayushi Podder clinched the silver medal after going down to the American trio of Elizabeth McGhin, Lorraine Zaun, and Carolynn Tucker. The Indians were beaten 43-47.
Table-toppers India ended the tournament with 30 medals including 13 gold, 11 silver and six bronze. USA finished second with 6 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze.
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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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