CM Siddaramaiah blames PM Modi for soaring prices
Bengaluru, Apr 17 (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rising prices in the country.
Apparently to counter the BJP’s ‘Janaakrosha Yatre’ (Public Anger March) in Karnataka, the ruling Congress in the state staged a protest against the Centre's policies at Freedom Park in the city.
Participating in the event, the chief minister questioned whether the ongoing price rise was Modi’s promised ‘Achchhe Din’ (Good Days) before coming to power in 2014.
Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of increasing petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2, and cooking gas by Rs 50 per cylinder refill.
"Narendra Modi is responsible for the price rise in the country. Didn’t he say, 'Achchhe Din Ayenge' (Good days will come)? Have those come?" he asked.
The CM said gold was priced at Rs 28,000 per 10 grams before 2014, and has now gone up to Rs 95,000 per 10 grams.
Similarly, silver was Rs 43,000 per kg during the UPA government, which has now crossed Rs 94,000 per kg.
"Each US dollar was Rs 59 before 2014, but now it is Rs 87 per USD. Mr Narendra Modi, you came to power promising that one dollar would equal one rupee. Who is responsible for this, Mr Modi? Isn’t this sucking the blood of the poor?" Siddaramaiah charged.
He added that cement was Rs 268 per 50 kg bag before 2014, but today it costs Rs 410.
Similarly, steel was Rs 19,000 per tonne, which is now Rs 73,000 per tonne. PVC pipes were priced at Rs 60 per unit, but have gone up to Rs 150, the chief minister claimed.
Taking a dig at the BJP for organising the ‘Janaakrosha Yatre’ in the state, accusing the ruling Congress of causing the price rise, Siddaramaiah said, "Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre, it has been burdening people with price hikes. The shameless BJP and its ally JD(S) have no moral right to protest. Do they have self-esteem or shame?"
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar dismissed the BJP’s allegations of price rise.
He said the Congress party, which gave five guarantees (Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuva Nidhi, Shakti) to help the poor, could never work against them.
"If there is any pro-poor government, it is the Congress. The BJP is responsible for the price rise," Shivakumar claimed.
Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the BJP-led central government has "burnt a hole in people’s pockets" by increasing petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2 per litre, and raising the cooking gas price by Rs 50 per cylinder.
He said cooking gas was cheaper during the UPA government because people were getting subsidies, which have now been abolished by the BJP government at the Centre.
"The BJP reduced the LPG subsidy from Rs 52,000 crore to Rs 10,600 crore—a 500 per cent cut. The Centre now collects Rs 9,050 crore more annually from people just by increasing cooking gas prices by Rs 50 per cylinder."
According to him, 181 crore refill cylinders are sold every year in India. With a Rs 50 increase per refill, consumers will pay an additional Rs 9,050 crore annually.
In Karnataka, 10.36 crore cylinders are sold every year, resulting in an additional burden of Rs 515 crore on Kannadigas, he said.
The Congress later sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister, signed by several party leaders, including Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, and Surjewala.
The memorandum, submitted "against BJP-made Mahangai (price rise)", alleged that the Centre had imposed a burden of over Rs 50,000 crore annually on the people of India—Rs 5,000 crore of which falls on Karnataka alone.
They also urged the Prime Minister to "urgently roll back the Rs 50 hike in gas cylinder prices, and withdraw the Rs 2 increase in excise duty on petrol and diesel, to pass on the benefit of reduced crude oil prices (USD 62 per barrel) to the common people."
"The people of Karnataka, along with the rest of India, are deeply anguished and pained by the extortionist policies of the BJP-NDA government at the Centre, led by your good self. The surging inflation has broken the budgets of ordinary households," the memorandum read.
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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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