BJP leaders want to organise mega event in Davangere following Siddaramaiah's b'day bash: BJP MLA
Bengaluru, Aug 5: Following a massive turnout at Congress heavyweight Siddaramaiah's 75th birthday bash in the central Karnataka district of Davangere, a section of BJP leaders from the region have urged the party leadership to hold a mega event there, aimed at projecting the achievements and programmes of the state government.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's political secretary and MLA from Honnali in Davangere district, M P Renukacharya said the party's local workers and leaders are asking for such an event to be organised in the district ahead of 2023 state assembly polls.
"Anyways, the division-wise meetings will be held, I will meet Chief Minister and BJP state President Nalin Kumar Kateel to give an opportunity to hold its valedictory event in Davangere. We will organise a mega event, because our leaders and workers are asking (for it)," Renukacharya said.
Speaking to reporters here, he clarified that the event should not be misconstrued as a counter to Siddaramaiah's 75th birthday bash held in Davangere on August 3, that saw a massive gathering.
"The (proposed BJP) event will be to project the public-friendly programmes, schemes and achievements of the BJP government to the people. We have made a request, the Chief Minister and party president will decide and announce," he added.
Attended by its top leader Rahul Gandhi, the Congress tried to use the mega birthday event of Siddaramaiah, with some eight lakh people in attendance according to sources, to virtually sound the poll bugle hoping that the event may draw a rich dividend to the party.
State BJP strongman and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa is said to have cautioned the party leadership that the massive show during Siddaramaiah's event cannot be taken lightly ahead of polls.
Responding to a question, Renukacharya said the BJP is not worried following the successful grand birthday celebrations of Siddaramaiah, pointing out that in fact it was opposed by state Congress President D K Shivakumar and other leaders of the opposition party.
"There are several factions in Congress like - Siddaramaiah faction, D K Shivakumar faction, Mallikarjun Kharge faction, and neutral faction - while in BJP there are no factions," he said, adding that there is respect towards Siddaramaiah as he is a leader of backward communities, but no fear about his birthday event affecting BJP's prospects in the region.
Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah have been publicly engaged in a game of political one-upmanship for the chief minister's post in the event of Congress coming to power after the Assembly election, and the event on Wednesday was seen as a show of strength by the former CM and his camp.
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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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