Devotees throng temples across Bengaluru to offer prayers on Ganesh Chaturthi
Bengaluru (PTI): Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated with fervour as devotees thronged temples and community pandals across Bengaluru to offer prayers to Lord Ganesha on Wednesday.
Long queues were witnessed outside prominent temples, including Dodda Ganapathi temple, where people offered flowers, coconuts and sweets to Lord Ganesha, with police making elaborate security arrangements across the city to ensure smooth conduct of celebrations.
Several residential areas and public places also saw the installation of Ganesha idols, with cultural programmes and community feasts planned as part of the festivities.
According to Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh all adequate security measures are in place for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in the city.
Extra CCTVs have also been installed at major points, which have been linked with the command centre by aligning them with procession routes. Police officials at the command centre will closely monitor activities to ensure their smooth conduct, he said.
Two Rapid Action Force companies have also been deployed as additional support to the city police personnel.
Many devotees were also seen preferring eco-friendly, colourless clay idols of Ganesha instead of Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols coated with chemical paints that are considered harmful to the environment and water bodies.
Ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi, Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre had directed local bodies to strictly enforce the ban on the manufacture and sale of Gowri and Ganesha idols made of Plaster of Paris.
In view of large number of public and devotees expected to arrive for the immersion of Ganesh idols at the historic Yediyur Lake in Jayanagar, anticipating the possibility of traffic congestion on Kanakapura main road, suitable traffic arrangements have been made by the police to ensure smooth flow of traffic in and around the place of the event.
Similar arrangements and traffic restrictions have also been made at other prominent lakes in the city where immersion of Ganesh idols is expected.
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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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