Chhattisgarh: Efforts on for 3rd day to save 11-yr-old boy stuck in borewell
team of robot specialists reaches spot
Janjgir(PTI): More than 45 hours after an 11-year-old boy fell into a deep borewell in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir Champa district, rescue teams were making hectic efforts on Sunday to save him, officials said.
The boy is conscious, they said, adding that a team of robot specialists from Gujarat has reached the spot and efforts are being made to pull out the child, who is stuck at a depth of about 60 feet in the abandoned borewell.
The boy, Rahul Sahu, fell into the unused 80-feet-deep borewell, located in the backyard of his house in Pihrid village in Malkharoda development block around 2 pm on Friday while he was playing there, officials said.
The rescue teams, comprising over 500 personnel, including officials of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Army, have been working tirelessly, using ultra-advance machines and vehicles to evacuate the child safely, they said.
As per the latest information, a parallel pit, being dug since Friday evening, is nearing its final stage. A tunnel will then be created which will enable rescuers to reach the borewell and evacuate the child.
A team of robot specialists from Gujarat has also reached the spot and efforts are also being made to pull out the child safely with the help of a robot, officials said.
Health officials have been constantly monitoring Rahul's condition through cameras. He is conscious and showing movement. He was given a soft drink and banana in the wee hours of Sunday and provided juice this morning. A pipe has been installed for oxygen supply in the borewell, a government statement said.
We are hoping that we will be able to rescue the child by late afternoon, a district administration official said.
Over 500 personnel, including from the NDRF, a four-member Army team, more than 150 policemen and 15 personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), have been engaged in the rescue operation, which began at 4 pm on Friday, officials said.
There is some water inside the borewell where the child is trapped and the NDRF personnel are trying to drain it out with the help of a vessel tied to a rope. Even the child has been helping in the water draining exercise, as per the government statement.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is in touch with officials and constantly taking updates about the operation.
Baghel also spoke to Rahul's family members over phone and assured them that every possible step would be taken to save the child.
District Collector Jitendra Shukla and Superintendent of Police Vijay Agrawal were at the spot since Friday evening.
The CM has also directed all district collectors and SPs that borewells should be covered in order to prevent such incidents.
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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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