'Agni Missile fired by Nagpur': Cong's swipe at PM Modi over Mohan Bhagwat's 'Bhagwan' remark
New Delhi, Jul 18: The Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's "bhagwan" remarks, calling the comments an "Agni Missile fired by Nagpur" and aimed at Lok Kalyan Marg.
While the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters is situated in Nagpur, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg is the prime minister's official residence.
The opposition party's swipe came after Bhagwat said in the course of self-development, a man may want to become a "superman", then "devta" and "bhagwan" and aspire for "vishwaroop" but nobody is certain what lies ahead.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tagged a clip of Bhagwat's remarks and said, "I am sure the self-anointed non-biological PM has got news of this latest Agni Missile fired by Nagpur from Jharkhand and aimed at Lok Kalyan Marg."
Several people linked with opposition parties also took similar digs on social media.
Addressing a village-level workers meeting, organised by non-profit organisation Vikas Bharti in Jharkhand's Gumla district, RSS chief Bhagwat asserted that people should work relentlessly for the welfare of mankind, since there is no end to the pursuit of development and human ambition.
"After achieving human qualities, man aspires to become superman with supernatural powers and then attain the status of 'devta' and 'bhagwan'. He then aspires for 'vishwaroop' (the supreme power's all-pervading form). What is beyond that, no one is certain," Bhagwat said.
There is no end to the development of the inner and outer self and one should work relentlessly for humanity, he said, adding that a worker should never be satisfied with his or her work.
"Work should continue, one should strive to work constantly in areas of environment, education and health...There is no end to it and constant work in different areas is the only solution...We should strive to make this world a beautiful place as is the nature of India," the RSS chief said.
मुझे यक़ीन है कि स्वयंभू नॉन-बायोलॉजिकल प्रधानमंत्री को इस ताज़ा अग्नि मिसाइल की ख़बर मिल गई होगी, जिसे नागपुर ने झारखंड से लोक कल्याण मार्ग को निशाना बनाकर दागा है। https://t.co/zjJswu6vPd
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 18, 2024
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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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