Woman missing; Suspected to be swept away in river
Byndoor, June 26: A woman who had been to a shop on Sunday is missing and it is suspected that she might have swept away in the river beside her house. But even after three days, her body is not yet traced despite the search operation.
The missing woman is identified as Parvati (35) of Uddabettu Dasodi in Teggarse village in the taluk. She had gone to the shop on Sunday to bring some ration. When she did not turn up even after 10 am, her family members started searching her. While searching, her umbrella was found in a bush below 100 mts from a foot-bridge constructed across Sumanavati river near her house. Since the taluk has been receiving heavy rains for the last couple of days, it is suspected that she might have fallen accidentally from the footbridge and swept away in the flood.
Byndoor police who registered a case said that locals and fire brigade have been searching for the body since Sunday. But it was not found. As the rivers are flowing in full force, the body might have washed away into the sea. Her husband Buddivanta is working as a mason.
Rain-related losses
Due to heavy rains that has been lashing the district for the last few days, some houses were damaged, traffic movement was disrupted due to clogging of water in the incomplete highway work sites.
Artificial flooding was created at Basrur Murukai, Koteshwara underpass and other places in Kundapura taluk, causing inconvenience to vehicular movement. A wall of the house belonging to Narayana Achari in Nujadi village collapsed due to heavy rains and the loss was estimated at Rs 25,000. As a coconut tree fell on the house of Radhu Poojarthi of Udyavara village, the house was damaged causing a loss of Rs 50,000. The compound of the house belonging to Raghava of 80 Badagabettu village was collapsed due to heavy rains on Monday night incurring a loss of Rs 30,000. In the same way, Girija of Beejadi village in Kundapur taluk incurred a loss of Rs 75,000 due to gusty wind and heavy rains, Susheela has incurred a loss of Rs 35,000 and Babu Kharvi of Hosadu village incurred a loss of Rs 35,000 as their houses were damaged.
In Udupi taluk, Nemu Poojarthi of Kadekar village incurred a loss of Rs 60,000, Shivaram Poojary Rs 20,000, Narayana Poojary Rs 22,000, Sunil KN Rs 20,000, Kuthpadi Achyuta Anchan Rs 15,000, Neeladhara Suvarna Rs 20,000, Vittal Kotian Rs 6000, Sadashiva Bhandary Rs 10,000, Sadhu Karkera Rs 15000, Koraga Salian Rs 15,000 losses were estimated.
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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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