Congress to stage protest against Centre over rice supply issue on June 20
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said the Congress will hold protests at all district centres against the BJP government at the Centre on June 20, as he accused it of ensuring that the state doesn't get the required amount of rice to implement its 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, which provides additional 5 kg of rice for BPL families.
Noting that the state government is making all efforts to procure rice from other sources and from producing states, he indicated that there may be slight delay in rolling out the scheme against the scheduled date of July one.
"I want to congratulate BJP national President J P Nadda, as they (BJP) have walked the talk", Shivakumar said sarcastically. "It was reported in the media quoting him that if BJP loses the election central schemes to the state will get affected, he has kept up his word. Even as the Prime Minister speaks about federal structure..."
Speaking to reporters here, he said, the BJP government at the Centre is indulging in "politics of hate" by ensuring that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) does not supply the required amount of rice to implement the scheme; it is their way of registering a protest against Karnataka's poor for voting in favour of Congress.
"BJP is a party that betrays the poor. Congress party and the government condemns and protests this. On on June 20 at 11 am, the Congress will stage protests at all district centres across the state against the BJP government at the Centre. The protests will be organised by local leadership of the party at district level, all MLAs and leaders from the district will take part in the protest," he added.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recently said that the central government has stalled the sale of wheat and rice to state governments under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) (OMSSD), which prohibits the FCI from selling any additional rice to Karnataka for its Anna Bhagya scheme.
Noting that the state government is committed to provide 10 kg of free rice to the poor, the DCM said, "we are in talks with neighbouring states like Telangana, also Chhattisgarh, which are rice producing states, on the stocks available with them for procurement.
He said it is not difficult for us to procure from the open market, but we want to maintain transparency.
"The Centre has rice stock of over seven lakh metric tonne, we asked for about 2,88,000 metric tonnes. Despite having stock they are not giving. As they (FCI) had initially agreed to give rice, we had announced that we will supply from July 1. We will arrange rice somehow and roll out the scheme, there may be a couple of days delay due to procurement and transportation," he added.
Shivakumar also expressed hope that MPs from the state will come forward to help Karnataka, and said, "we will write to them to put pressure on the centre in the interest of the state."
Out of 28 MPs from the state, 25 are from BJP.
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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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