Veteran Yakshagana 'Bhagavata' Padyana Ganapati Bhat passes away at 66
Sullya: Senior Yakshagana Bhagavata, known as the divinely gifted Yakshagana singer, Padyana Ganapati Bhat passed away due to prolonged illness at the age of 66, at his residence in Kalmadka on Tuesday.
Bhagavata Padyana Ganapati Bhat who possessed an incredible singing voice joined the field of Yakshagana in his teenage years and stayed in this field of art for more than four decades. Born on January 22, in the year 1955, Ganapati Bhat was the third son of the couple Padyana Tirumaleshwara Bhat and Savitri. He finished his formal education in his hometown. He learned the initial lessons on Bhagavatike singing staying close to his grandfather. Thereafter, he obtained classical lessons in the singing art form for 2 years with Mambadi Narayana Bhagavata. At the age of 16, he began practicing the (Bhagavatike) singing art form in the Thenkuthittu Yakshagana Stage productions.
After joining as a musician at the Chaudeshwari fair, he served as a ‘Bhagavata’ at the Kundavu Fair for 2 years. Later, he served in various fairs including Surathkal, Mangaladevi, Karnataka, Edaneeru, and Shri Ramachandrapura festivals. He stayed as the ‘Bhagavata’ for 26 years alone in the Surathkal Shri Mahammaayi Fair and served there.
He obtained great fame serving as a Bhagavata for several theatrical productions such as Sati Sheelavathi, Rani Ratnavali, Kadugali Mararama, Papanna Vijaya Gunasundari, and Bappanadu Kshetra Mahatma. He was known for his ability to understand the artistic temperament of an artist playing a role and singing in harmony with that temperament. He had a unique hold on the Naati and Bharavi Raaga (melody). Musical exercises in Yakshagana such as the rare Simhendra Medium, Khamathu, Tillana, Vasanthi, Vrindavan Shanmukhapriya, and Charukeshi are his achievements. He has adapted approximately 20 types of melodies in the Yakshagana.
He has performed in many places including Kuwait, Mumbai, Agra, and Chennai, and received honorary titles from his fans in these places. He has brought life to thousands of Kannada and Tulu Yakshagana soundtracks with his beautiful singing.
Ganapati Bhat has been the recipient of several awards including the 2007 District Rajyotsava Award.
He is survived by his wife, two sons, and a legion of friends, relatives, and admirers.
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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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