BJP hits back at Congress, says Rafale deal profitable
New Delhi, July 27 : The BJP on Friday hit back at Congress over its allegations on the Rafale fighter jet deal, saying it had been "profitable" to the country.
THe party said the Modi government negotiated the deal with France at nine per cent less cost compared to that done by the former UPA.
The BJP posted a video with headline "Facts you need to know about Rafale deal!" on its official twitter handle claiming that the "most ambitious fighter aircraft aquisition project" from France was fixed at Euro 91.75 mn/aircraft (Rs 733.66 crore, as per current exchange rate: one Euro equals to Rs 79.96).
According to the video, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team put their best efforts to rework the Rafale deal with France in 2016 and "it successfully finalised the deal at 9 per cent less cost" by buying 36 aircraft at Rs 733.66 crore apiece."
The video also claimed that in 2011 the price negotiated by the UPA for 126 Rafale aircraft was Euro 100.85 mn/aircraft (Rs 806.43 crore/aircraft).
Earlier, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi rejected the fresh allegations as "baseless" , saying the opposition party is repeating same claims in "frustration" which has already been rebutted by Union Ministers and the French government.
"The BJP never levelled allegations in defence deals. It was members of Congress government or foreign countries which first alleged corruption in cases like Bofors deal or AgustaWestland chopper purchase," Trivedi said at a press conference.
He said those levelling allegations should first hear defence experts and refrain from politicising such deals.
The BJP leader said the Congress-led governments never allowed defence production in the country so that it could strike "deals" with foreign suppliers.
"Now, they are levelling baseless allegations after the Modi government has started working towards domestic production," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Congress accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" on Reliance Defence Limited, which it said didn't have the experience in manufacturing fighter jets, having secured an offset contract from Dassault Aviation for Rs.30,000 crore and a consequent ‘Lifecycle Cost Contract of Rs. 1 lakh crore in the Rafale deal.
Stressing that national interest was being compromised by the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, Congress demanded that Modi must "break his silence over whether he represented the interest of private companies and industrial houses."
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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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