This election will be fought to save constitution of the country: Siddaramaiah
Udupi, 10 March: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday while addressing party activists in Udupi added the upcoming elections are being fought for the cause of survival of Constitution and Truth. He insisted people to vote carefully without falling for the false promises of BJP like previous election.
He was addressing a number of party activists in rally in a ‘Parivarthana Samavesha’ event at the Royal Gardens in Kalsangka here in the city.
“A government’s job is to build the nation and not to divide and break it. What Narendra Modi government has done in last 55 months is it has divided the nation, apart from that they did nothing credible” Siddaramaiah said.
“When I was the CM of the state, I fulfilled about 165 promises during my term which were part of our manifesto before election. I am ready for debate on this issue on any platform. Is the BJP or Modi ready for a debate on their achievements?” Siddaramaiah questioned.
“Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh during the UPA government had issued loan of Rs 72,000 crore to farmers of the country. I waived and paid Rs 8165 crore of 22,250 farmers in the state. Narendra Modi’s ache din only came for Adani, Ambani, Nirav Modi, Choski and Mallya, not farmers, Dalits and poor people” he added
“Before elections, Modi said he will be their guardian and the watchman of the country. But after the election people realised that “Chowkidar hi chor hai’ (Watchman himself is the thief)” he said taking a dig at Modi’s ‘Chowidar’ remark.
“Modi visited the state recently twice, he again made promises but did not speak about the promises he made previously which he could not fulfill. Neither he spoke about developmental work done during his term in the state”.
"In his five years tenure, he should’ve created about 10 crore jobs as he had promised to create two crore jobs annually. But the statistics reflect only 27 lakh jobs were created in his tenure. So the youth of the country has to think before voting them. Modi is not able to protect their interest. Their interest can only be protected by Congress and Rahul Gandhi now” he noted.
Taking a further dig at Modi, he said “India has not seen a prime minister who lies more than Narendra Modi. There are chaos in the country due to his false promises. Nobody in this government is concerned and bothered about poor, farmers, Dalits, Women and minorities”.
If the Congress comes to the Women's Reservation Bill
Showering praise on Congress President Rahul Gandhi Siddaramaiah said that Rahul is a simple person who is honestly concerned about the poor, women and farmers. “Speaking in Haveri Yesterday Rahul said that Congress will implement 33-seat women reservation bill if voted to power. Siddaramaiah also said that the Congress and allies will get majority in the next Lok Sabha polls and that Rahul Gandhi will be the prime minister.
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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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