Centre, state have share in metro project; serving people important, not credit: DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Aug 5 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said that both state and central governments hold shares in the metro projects, as he asserted that serving the people was more important than "credit politics".
Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in-charge for Bengaluru development, inspected the soon-to-be-launched Yellow line of "Namma Metro" (Bengaluru Metro).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Yellow Line on August 10.
"This is our metro. The CM and I had requested the PM to inaugurate the Yellow line and he has given the time now. This is not a project of the central government alone, the state too has 50 per cent share in the project. We are all serving the public." Shivakumar said in response to a question.
"The PM will inaugurate the Yellow line on August 10. The 19.15 km line with 16 stations was built at a cost of Rs 7,610 crore. A small programme will be organised at the auditorium in Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru. The PM, CM and the local legislators would travel in the inaugural trip of the train thereafter....We will submit an appeal to the PM on funds needed for the double decker project's land acquisition," he said.
Asked about the extension of the metro network and building more double-decker metro lines (road and metro corridor), Shivakumar said, "It would be nice if the MPs who are making a lot of noise got us some funds. The MPs don't speak a word on the funds, but are engaged in nitpicking. We have decided to build double decker metro lines for all metro lines in the future."
All the three Lok Sabha seats of Bengaluru are represented by BJP MPs.
The Commissionerate of Railway Safety gave the clearance for the Yellow line on July 31.
The Deputy CM hit out at Bengaluru South BJP Tejasvi Surya for alleging delay in opening the line for the service of the people.
"We can't rush through things like safety. Our MP is a young blood in a hurry and doesn't have any experience," he said.
Noting that three train sets have arrived for the Yellow line and the fourth set will come in August, Shivakumar said three trains will operate now at an interval of 25 minutes. The frequency would be increased to 10 minutes once more train sets arrive. This is a crucial line to link the IT hubs to the city.
Replying to a question on inauguration of Hebbal flyover's new loop, Shivakumar said it will be opened to the public before August 15 after taking CM's availability into consideration for the inaugural.
"The KR-Puram-City loop will be opened now and the Airport service road-City loop will be opened a little later. We are planning a new tunnel from Nagawara to Esteem Mall to agricultural university. This would be a 1.5 km tunnel and it is different from the larger tunnel road being planned," he said.
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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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