Apr 30: Karnataka logs 48,296 fresh COVID-19 infections, 217 deaths
Karnataka's COVID-19 tally cross 15 lakh mark
Bengaluru, Apr 30: Karnataka's COVID-19 tally surpassed the 15 lakh mark with the biggest single-day spike of 48,296 cases, while 217 fatalities took the toll to 15,523, the health department said on Friday.
The previous high in the state was on April 28, when 39,047 cases were reported.
Bengaluru Urban alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of the cases on Friday, with 26,756 fresh infections
The day also saw 14,884 getting discharged after treatment.
Cumulatively, 15,23,142 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 15,523 deaths and 11,24,909 discharges.
There are 3,82,690 active cases at present.
Among the 217 deaths reported on Friday, Bengaluru Urban was on top with 93, Hassan 19, Mysuru 13, Ballari 11, Dharwad 7,Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Kalaburagi, Davangere, Chamarajanagar, Bidar (six each) Kodagu, Mandya, Ramanagara, Uttara Kannada, three each in Vijayapura, Kolar and Bagalkote (five each).
The bulletin said 3,500 cases were reported in Mysuru, 1,801 in Tumakuru, 1,282 in Ballari, 1,256 in Kalaburagi, 1,205 in Dakshina Kannada, while Kolar, Bengaluru Rural, Raichur, Hassan, Dharwad, Shivamogga, Udupi, Kodagu and Chikkaballapura reported well in excess of 500 each.
A total of 2.55 crore samples have been tested so far, out of which 1,89,793 were on Friday alone, the bulletin said.
It said 96.81 lakh people had so far received both the first and second shots of the covid-19 vaccine.
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Today's Media Bulletin 30/04/2021
— K'taka Health Dept (@DHFWKA) April 30, 2021
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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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