Delhi water crisis: Atishi begins fast for more water from Haryana
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Water Minister Atishi on Friday began her indefinite hunger strike in south Delhi's Bhogal to press on her demand for more water from Haryana.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal, along with AAP MP Sanjay Singh and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, were present as Atishi began her fast.
Sunita Kejriwal read out a message from the chief minister, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail, in which he expressed hope that Atishi's 'tapasya' would be successful.
The chief minister said he was immensely pained by seeing on TV the plight of the people facing water shortage amid the ongoing intense heatwave, he said.
"It's our culture to provide water to the thirsty. Delhi gets water from neighbouring states. We hoped support of neighbouring states in such intense heat. But, Haryana reduced Delhi's water share.
"Although there are governments of different parties in the two states but is this time for politics over water," he said, referring to the BJP that is in power in Haryana.
Earlier, Atishi, accompanied by Sunita Kejriwal, Singh, Bharadwaj and other leaders paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat before heading to Bhogal.
There is such intense heat in Delhi and the water requirements of the people have increased. In such times, the people need more water, but there is a shortage. All the water in Delhi comes from its neighbouring states, Atishi said as she began her indefinite fast.
She said her appeal to the Haryana government and a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for help did not yield any result and Delhi was not getting adequate water.
"I am left with no choice now but to start an indefinite hunger strike as I am unable to watch the plight of the men, women and children of Delhi. This indefinite Jal Satyagrah will continue till Delhi people get water from Haryana," she said.
Delhi gets 1005 MGD water which is supplied to people in the city. For the last two weeks, Haryana is giving 513 MGD instead of 613 MGD water to Delhi. More than 28 lakh people face shortage when Haryana stops 100 MGD of water, she said.
Haryana has further reduced the release of Delhi's share from 100 MGD to 120 MGD in the last two days, she claimed.
In the morning, the minister said she would begin her indefinite hunger strike in Bhogal as, despite all efforts, the Haryana government was not releasing the full share of Delhi's water.
"I will start 'Pani Satyagraha' from today... I will start an indefinite fast at Bhogal, Jangpura from 12 o'clock until the people of Delhi get their rightful share of water from Haryana," she said on X earlier in the day," she said on X.
The minister has claimed that Haryana for the last two weeks was releasing 100 million gallons per day less water to Delhi against its share of 613 MGD, as a result, 28 lakh people in Delhi were affected.
Delhi is facing an unprecedented heatwave as a result the water demand has increased.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.”
_vb_22.jpeg)
