Ban placed on entry of 3 Maha ministers, 1 MP in Belagavi to prevent trouble on K'taka formation day
Bengaluru/Belagavi (PTI): The Belagavi administration has banned three Maharashtra ministers and an MP from entering this border district, as they are expected to participate in the "black day" event organised by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) on November 1, on the occasion of Karnataka formation day.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has warned them of legal action, in case they indulge in activities or make statements that are against Karnataka or Kannada.
Maharashtra Ministers Shambhuraje Desai, Chandrakant Patil, Deepak Kesarkar and MP Dhairyasheel Mane are expected to attend the MES event, official sources said.
MES, which has been fighting for the merger of several Marathi speaking areas and villages of the state with Maharashtra for long, observes 'Karnataka Rajyotsava' as a black day every year.
They had recently met Maharashtra Chief Minister Ekanath Shinde at Kolhapur, seeking his support on the boundary issue and requesting that he send representatives to take part in the MES event.
Three ministers and an MP have been banned from entering Belagavi from 6 am on October 31 to 6 pm on November 2, citing maintenance of law and order.
Officials foresee the chances of them making instigative speeches during the visit. Also Kannada activists could gherao them, and it may result in clashes with MES activists.
"We have sensitised the police along Maharashtra border region, whether it is Belagavi or Bidar. We have already deployed Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) platoons at places where there is information about trouble breaking out," Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru, in response to a question.
'Black day' is observed in Belagavi by MES on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava and ministers from Maharashtra come and make statements there, he said. "We control such activities every year. This year too, we have already made necessary arrangements there."
"If anyone comes inside Karnataka's borders and makes statements against Karnataka, Kannada, Karnataka land and water, we will take legal action against them," Parameshwara said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar termed the observing of 'black day' as wrong, and assured that the government would do everything to protect the interests of the people of the state and Kannadigas living in Maharashtra.
"It is very wrong, whoever it is... We have to protect the interest of our state, we have to protect the people of the state," he told reporters.
"Our government will take all necessary measures to protect the people of the state and Kannadigas there (in Maharashtra). The Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) has held a meeting with the Home Minister and senior police officials and has instructed them to remain cautious," he added.
The border issue dates back to 1957 when states were reorganised on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population, and over 800 Marathi-speaking border villages that are currently a part of Karnataka.
Karnataka maintains that the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report is final.
To assert that Belagavi is an integral part of the state, Karnataka built the 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' there, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the State Legislature and Secretariat in Bengaluru.
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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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