BJP paralyses assembly proceedings over farm loan waiver
Winter Session
Belagavi, Dec 20: The Karnataka assembly witnessed repeated adjournments Thursday as the opposition BJP staged a protest for the second day, seeking clarity from the government on the farm loan waiver scheme.
BJP members also squatted in the well of the House, demanding that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy apologise to the leader of the opposition B S Yeddyurappa for his comments against him during the debate in the assembly on Wednesday.
As the House met for the day, BJP members trooped into the well, shouting slogans like "down down to the anti-farmer government", "loan waiver should be implemented".
Hitting back, members of the treasury benches asked what moral right the BJP members had to call the government anti-farmer when they had done nothing for the farming community and farm loan waiver.
With heated exchanges between both sides, pandemonium broke out.
The BJP has sought clarity from Kumaraswamy on loan waiver and the exact day by which debt free certificates would be issued to farmers.
They also want him to apologise to Yeddyurappa for accusing him of colluding with nationalised banks, who, they said, are now non-committal on their earlier one-time settlement offer to NPA accounts.
Yeddyurappa said that the BJP has cooperated with the government for the smooth functioning of the House from the day the session began on December 10.
"We behaved as a responsible national party, but in return I was humiliated for questioning this government over lack of clarity on farm loan waiver," he said.
Farmers' suicides was the major 'achievement' of this government, Yeddyurappa said.
He said Kumaraswamy and his ministers were claiming that about Rs 45,000 crore farm loans had been waived in the last six months, but had only waived Rs 50 crore from nationalised banks till now. There was no clarity from cooperative banks also, he said.
The Chief Minister's reply had no seriousness or clarity, and when questioned, "he has insulted me", Yeddyurappa said.
"The Chief Minister has to apologise for his remarks and clarify on farm loan waiver. Until then our protest will continue," he said.
BJP members continued their protest in the well, following which the Speaker Ramesh Kumar adjourned the House.
When the House resumed after a gap of over an hour, BJP members continued with their slogans "down down to anti farmer government", "loan waiver should be implemented".
As the Speaker's repeated attempts to pacify BJP MLAs failed, he adjourned the House till lunch.
When the House resumed in the post-lunch session, BJP persisted with its protest and Congress members too shouted slogans against the opposition.
The Speaker then adjourned the House till tomorrow.
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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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