11 killed in China mine explosion
Beijing, June 6 : Eleven workers were killed and two were reported missing after an explosion in an iron mine in Liaoning province on Tuesday while 23 miners were rescued on Wednesday.
The explosion occurred on Tuesday around 4.10 p.m. at the entrance of the mine in Benxi after the miners dropped explosives down the 1,000-metre-deep mine shaft, Xinhua news agency reported.
An elevator system was destroyed leaving 25 miners trapped inside, most of whom were rescued on Wednesday early morning, but search and rescue efforts were still underway for the two missing miners.
All the rescued miners were safe, but five of them were seriously injured and were transferred to a hospital, authorities announced.
Chinese mines, especially coal mines -- the country's main source of energy -- have a high accident rate and are among the most dangerous in the world, although the number of fatal accidents has fallen significantly in recent years.
At least 219 accidents and 375 deaths were reported in China's coal mines in 2017 alone. However, this number of deaths was 28.7 per cent lower than in 2016, and almost 20 times lower than at the beginning of the last decade, when up to 7,000 deaths were recorded each year in mining accidents.
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Bill to set up single higher education regulator likely to be tabled in Parliament next week
New Delhi (PTI): A Bill which seeks to set up a single regulator for institutions of higher education is required to facilitate universities and other higher educational institutes become independent and self-governing, officials said.
The Bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament next week after it got the Union Cabinet's nod on Friday.
The proposed legislation, which was earlier christened the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, has now been named Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill.
A single higher education regulator, which was proposed in the new National Education Policy (NEP), looks to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
"The Bill proposes to set up a Higher Education Commission of India to facilitate universities and other higher educational institutes become independent and self-governing institutions and to promote excellence through a robust and transparent system of accreditation and autonomy. It is likely to be introduced (in Parliament) in the coming week," an official said.
While the UGC presently oversees non-technical higher education in the country, the AICTE oversees technical education, while the NCTE is the regulatory body for teachers' education.
The Commission is proposed to be set up as a single higher education regulator, but medical and law colleges will not be brought under its ambit.
It is proposed to have three major roles -- regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards, officials said.
Funding, which is seen as the fourth vertical, is not proposed to be under the regulator so far. The autonomy for funding is proposed to be with the administrative ministry, they said.
