India taking steps to reduce crude oil, gas imports; focus on exploration, green energy: PM
Numaligarh (Assam), Sep 14 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the BJP-led central government is taking steps to reduce imports of crude oil and gas, focusing more on exploration of fossil fuels and green energy.
Addressing a rally in Assam’s Numaligarh after inaugurating and laying foundation stones for projects worth over Rs 12,000 crore, Modi said that with India emerging as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the country is dependent on foreign nations for crude oil and gas.
“To change this, the focus has to be on meeting our energy requirements. The government is working on oil exploration and green energy generation,” the PM said.
Ethanol is a major alternative source of energy, and the newly inaugurated bioethanol refinery at Numaligarh will significantly benefit farmers and tribals, he said.
ALSO READ: PM lays foundation stones for health, infra projects worth Rs 6,300 cr in Assam's Darrang
The polypropylene plant, the foundation for which was also laid by Modi, will greatly benefit the local economy, he said.
Modi said energy and semiconductors were the two key drivers for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, underscoring that Assam has an important role to play in these sectors.
Taking a dig at the Congress, the prime minister alleged that it was responsible for insurgency and unrest in Assam.
“The Congress also ignored the heritage and icons of Assam. But, the BJP brought development and gave recognition to the state’s heritage,” he asserted.
Modi claimed that Assam was facing a demographic challenge due to Congress' backing of infiltrators for votes.
“The Assam government is evicting encroachers, and providing deprived people land rights,” he said.
“We are taking steps for the welfare of tribals, who were neglected during the Congress rule,” the PM said.
The BJP government’s commitment is to make Assam a hub of trade and tourism, he added.
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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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