Udupi, September 9: Vishwasantosh Bharati Guruji of Barakur Mahasansthan appealed the bunts community to stop lavishness and squandering of money in the name of Nagaradhane and spend that amount to help the poor in the community.

Speaking at the World Bunts Convention-2018, organized by the Federation of World Bunts Associations and Udupi Bunts Associations, at Ammanni Ramanna Shetty auditorium here on Sunday, the Guruji said that the Bhootaradhane and Nagaradhane of the bunts community were missing the track due to lavishness and squandering of money. The spiritual and religious rituals of the bunts and Tuluvas should be passed on to the next generation. Every community would have the poor and the rich. Each community may have only 10 per cent rich people. The bunts community also has majority of poor and it was the duty of the community to help them, he said.

In the name of Bhootaradhane and Nagaradhane, around Rs 30 crore is being spent in the district. Bunts would spend crores for Nagamandala rituals. The community people should think of minimizing the expenses. They could conduct the rituals in just Rs 9-10 lakh and remaining amount could be contributed to the poor and their health. It would surely give some solace. So, stop lavishness in the Nagamandala, Bhootaradhane and other religious rituals. Conduct marriages in a simple way and live happily without hating anybody in the society, he said.

Gurudevananda Swamiji of Odiyoor Mutt said that “Bunt means organizer or protector. It is another name for self confidence. Bunt is one who lives and let others to live. If we have security for the society, we need to have commitment in the religion. Bunts community is matriarchal dominated society due to which, the community has grown strongly”, he said.

Bunt community was not lagging behind in any sectors. The community should be in the front in social service. Only those who have love could create a healthy society. If the mother tongue is survived, the culture would survive, he said.

Businessman couple Shashirekha Anand Shetty inaugurated the stage. Federation president Aikala Harish Shetty presided over the programme in which, Bunts alias Nadavara Sangha president Ajith Kumar Rai Maladi were the chief guests.

Kaup Leeladhar Shetty of the Reception Committee. Vijay Prasad Shetty, Kolladi Balakrishna Rai, Kadri Navaneeth Shetty, Ashok Pakkala, Dr Roshan Kumar Shetty and others were present.

Felicitation

Seniors and achievers of the bunts community and the two swamijis were felicitated on the occasion. Byndoor Bunts Association president B Jagannath Shetty, Belagavi businessman Vittal Hegde, Basrur former MLA B Appanna Hegde, Mangaluru businessman Sadananda Shetty, writer Erya Lakshminarayan Alva, Yakshagana scholar Shimantur Narayana Shetty, Puna businessman Myna Subbanna Shetty, Dr Vishwanath Shetty, Dr Prabhakar Shetty, Sarvottama Shetty of UAE Bunts Association were felicitated on the occasion.

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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.”