Modi government approves ordinance on triple talaq
New Delhi, Sep 19: Ahead of Assembly elections in five states, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance making triple talaq a criminal offence, with the government stating that there was a "compelling necessity" and "overpowering urgency" to do so.
The ordinance, which will be sent to the President for approval, comes against the backdrop of the government's inability to get a bill on the issue passed in the last monsoon session of Parliament.
The government then brought some changes in the original bill providing for only the women or their blood relations to file complaints against the erring husbands in a bid to get support from the Congress and other parties in the Rajya Sabha but did not succeeded in passing it.
Briefing reporters after a meeting of the union cabinet on why it was resorting to an ordinance, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that instances of instant triple talaq have "continued unabated" in spite of the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional and Lok Sabha passing a bill that is now pending in the Rajya Sabha.
He attacked the Congress and said it had not supported the bill in the Rajya Sabha due to "vote bank politics".
Prasad said the issue pertained to respect for women and not to religion or path of worship.
"The issue of triple talaq has nothing to do with faith, mode of worship. It is pure issue of gender justice and gender equality."
He said triple talaq was still being given on flimsy grounds such as chapati getting burnt and wife waking up late. There were instances of the instant divorce having being given on social media platform WhatsApp, he said.
"Women are being oppressed, they are suffering. Most instances are taking place in Uttar Pradesh," he said.
Giving out figures of triple talaq cases between January 2017 and September 2018 from several states that totalled 430 including 229 before the Supreme Court judgement and 201 later, he said there could be many other unreported cases.
"The bottomline is that cases of triple talaq continue unabated. Whatever we have collected is shocking," he said.
Prasad said several Islamic countries have banned instant triple talaq but it still prevailed in a secular country like India.
He said the offence will become cognizable (with provision of three years imprisonment) if the FIR is filed by the woman or by her blood relations. A compromise can be reached at the initiative of woman and with appropriate conditions imposed by the magistrate concerned.
Prasad also said that bail can be given by the magistrate after hearing the woman who has filed the case. The custody of minor children will go to the mother and she will be entitled to maintenance for herself and her minor children.
He said the purpose was not to break families and a compromise will have the court's seal.
Prasad appealed to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to support the efforts for giving justice to women by rising above the considerations of "vote bank politics."
He made a similar appeal to BSP chief Mayawati and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "Support it by rising above politics," he said.
Prasad said the Congress supported the bill in the Lok Sabha but not in the Rajya Sabha.
"Let them publicly say when the session commences we will support it. We would appreciate their support in the House, not before TV channels," he said.
He said the government tried to take the Congress along. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had, on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met Congress leaders to seek their support for the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Asked if steps will be taken for empowerment of Muslim women, including BJP giving ticket during elections, Prasad said the issue should not be reduced to political empowerment: "We are consciously keeping this bill away from political divide. It is for gender justice."
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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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