Grateful to India for offering help in Thai cave rescue : Thai Embassy
New Delhi, Jul 10 : Charge d'Affaires of the Royal Thai Embassy in India Apirat Sugondhabhirom on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to India for offering its assistance in the ongoing rescue operations of the members of a Wild Boars soccer team stranded in a flooded cave in northern Thailand.
Speaking exclusively to ANI, Apirat said, "I would like to thank India for offering its help. The Royal Thai Embassy has been receiving many messages from our Indian friends caring for our children trapped in the cave. The gesture that India has shown to us will not be forgotten."
The Indian embassy in Bangkok informed the Thai authorities that the Kirloskar Brothers, an Indian company with expertise in pumping and flood management, can help drain out excess water from the cave, said Apirat in the interview.
"The (Thai) Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked for the generous offer and have conveyed this to the interior ministry. We will not forget this help," Apirat noted.
He clarified that there were no Indian companies or professionals engaged in the rescue operations as of now. He however added that the Thai government was seriously considering to employ the Kirloskar Brothers.
Explaining the difficulties and challenges of the operations, Apirat underscored that weather, water and the physical condition of the stranded boys and the coach were the key factors kept in mind during the entire exercise.
"Within the (Tham Luang) cave complex, the passages inside are totally submerged in water due to rains. The monsoon is coming soon. We are racing against time. It's been raining on and off for the last two weeks. The weather has cleared a bit now. The rescue operations led by the Chiang Rai Governor has been doing a good job," he said.
Explaining how the team ended up being trapped inside the Tham Luang cave, Apirat said that the boys were planning a surprise birthday party and had ventured inside the cave. He, however, clarified that it was not the first time a soccer team group had visited the risky cave.
As heavy rains pounded, the boys were forced to go further deeper to escape the rising water levels and were ultimately trapped.
"On July 2, the British divers found them. We came to know about this. The boys were looking hungry and very weak. Luckily, they were carrying provisions. The original plan of the group was not to go down deep inside the cave. But, unfortunately, on and off rains played spoilsport," Apirat recalled.
He informed that eight boys have been rescued in the last two days. They are recovering at the Chiang Rai Hospital. The third series of rescue operations were underway to retrieve the remaining five members of the soccer team.
Apirat continued, "Many of our international friends are actively cooperating with us in the rescue operations. Divers from Laos, Myanmar, Belgium, China, Israel and also Thailand having expertise in diving and pumping out excess water from the cave are all contributing in the operation. We are grateful to that."
He lamented that during the operations, a "heroic and brave" diver had died, who was previously from the Royal Thai Navy.
Apirat further said that a team of doctors and divers were taking turns to stay with the stranded group.
Asked whether the Thai government required an immediate help, he said that everything was under control and the teams were doing their jobs without any problems.
Praising the coach of the Wild Boars football team, Apirat said, "Previously, he was a Buddhist monk. He has used the knowledge of meditation. With this, he kept a cool head and managed to calm the boys down. He even told them to meditate, saying that help would always come. When the British divers found them, the children were not panicking. They were calm with no signs of fear."
Calling it a "very difficult operation", Apirat prayed for the safety of the remaining five persons and the divers and hoped that a good news would come at the end of the day.
courtesy : aninews.in
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)
