ITBP soldier threatens to imitate Paan Singh over 'assault' on kin
Khandwa/Bhopal: An ITBP jawan's social media post in which he has threatened to emulate soldier-turned- outlaw Paan Singh Tomar over alleged inaction by police against those who allegedly assaulted his family members has prompted Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath to intervene.
Nath has directed officials to probe the matter and provide security to family members of the jawan, Amit Singh, a resident of Mundi village in Khandwa district.
In his FB post, Singh said he would not hesitate to pick up a gun like Paan Singh Tomar--a soldier cum athlete who later turned an outlaw in Chambal region--if those responsible for assaulting his family members are not punished.
"Madhya Pradesh government should give justice to my family and brother...don't force me to be become a new Paan Singh Tomar...I won't need a training to fire a gun," Singh wrote in Hindi.
The government swung into action after the post went viral.
"Taking cognisance of Singh's Facebook post, chief minister Kamal Nath has directed an impartial investigation into the case of physical altercation between the private security personnel (hired by MP Tourism) and the ITBP jawan's family members at Hanumantiya Dam (a tourist spot) in Khandwa district on August 16," Nath's media coordinator Narendra Saluja said on Sunday.
Khandwa superintendent of police Shivdayal Singh said the matter would be re-investigated as per the directives of the chief minister.
"Cases were registered earlier on the complaints of both sides (Singh's family members and security guards). Further action would be taken if new facts emerge during probe," he said.
According to Atul Singh, brother of Amit Singh, the incident occurred on August 16 when his family members had gone to Hanuwantiya Island in Khandwa district on a picnic.
He claimed that an argument broke out between the private security guards and his family members as they were not allowed to carry milk bottles and biscuits for babies at a restaurant, which turned physical.
He claimed the guards as well as staff at other facilities at Hanuwantiya attacked him and other family members with bricks and sticks. Atul, who was injured in one of his eyes, is being treated in Indore.
He said his another brother Vipul Singh's suffered a fracture in his leg. Tomar was a seven-time national steeplechase champion in the 1950s and 1960s, who represented India at the 1958 Asian Games.
After a premature retirement from the Army, Tomar returned to his native village. He later gained notoriety as a Chambal Valley rebel when he resorted to violence after a land feud there. He was shot dead in 1981.
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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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