Elusive leopard shot dead in Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Nov 1: Foresters shot dead the elusive leopard on Wednesday that had scared Bengaluru residents for the past five days.
After three days of intense search operations, forest department officials tracked the wild cat in the city's outskirts at Kudlu Gate near Electronic City in Bengaluru South. They had set a cage and tried to trap the leopard and when their efforts failed, shots were fired, officials said.
Chief Conservator of Forest S S Lingaraja told reporters, "The leopard had attacked the veterinary doctor Kiran and one more staff member.They were grievously injured. It jumped to attack one more staff. So, he shot it in self defense. We tried to revive it (the leopard) in Bannerghatta but it died," he added.
Lingaraja said the Chief Wildlife Warden had given permission to shoot it when it started attacking people grievously.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Kumar Pushkar told PTI that the entire operation was taking place since morning. The leopard could not be caught alive. It was traced from Kudlu Gate and all efforts were made.
"When it was found that it was not possible to capture it alive, since it was very aggressive and attacking people . Three of our staff, including a veterinarian, were attacked while they were trying to catch it.
"A representative of an NGO who was supporting us with the operation was also attacked by the leopard. So, finally, the chief wildlife warden permitted it to be shot dead."
No member of the general public was hurt during the operation, he said.
According to the forest officials, the veterinarian, who was trying to dart it, got injuries in the neck. Presently, he is being treated at a hospital.
The leopard was reportedly hiding in an abandoned building and was shot dead as it ran dangerously towards a forester standing near a snare, the officials said.
Quickly, the injured leopard was bundled and shoved into a cage, from where it was taken to the Bannerghatta Biological Park where efforts were made to revive it but in vain.
The big cat had recently strayed from the wild somewhere near the Bannerghatta Biological Park, and was seen near Electronic City in Bengaluru south.
The matter came to light on October 29 after a CCTV footage showing the leopard inside the apartment premises in Kudlu Gate went viral on social media platforms. It was again spotted on the road, creating fear among the residents.
The foresters were on their toes to locate it and had deployed cages and drones. They also brought a few experts from Mysuru to catch the leopard.
After 3 days of search for the leopard. Forest officials have finally captured the leopard from the Bommanahalli industry area.@aranya_kfd @BlrCityPolice pic.twitter.com/2SesiE6TmQ
— Elezabeth Kurian (@ElezabethKurian) November 1, 2023
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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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