Bengaluru (PTI): Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who has recovered from a stroke due to timely treatment, said on Sunday that this was his "third birth".

Giving credit to God and the team of doctors who treated him, the JD(S) second-in-command said he got a new lease of life to be amidst the people of the state.

Before being discharged, Kumaraswamy also appealed to the people not to take the symptoms of stroke and paralysis lightly.

"For the past five days, some of my friends were in fear. If I am talking to you, then I must say that I got a rebirth," the former chief minister said.

"With regard to my health, God has given me a third birth. If a person gets one birth, in my case I am of the opinion that in my 64 years of age, I got my third birth," he added.

Kumaraswamy was hospitalised in the early hours of August 30 at a reputed hospital in the city.

Doctors treating him said he had had a stroke, which was then cured completely.

Recalling the turn of events that led to his hospitalisation, the JD(S) leader said he woke up at about 2 am on August 30 and felt his health was not in good condition.

The JD(S) leader said he quickly called his brother-in-law and eminent cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath and later consulted a neurologist who advised him to get admitted.

Kumaraswamy appealed to the people of the state not to waste even a single minute whenever they come across such symptoms.

"I sensed the symptoms of paralysis at 2 am. If had ignored it and said I will go to the doctor in the morning, I would have spent the rest of my life permanently on the bed," he said.

He said never think that doctors are working to make money because when the patient comes, they sincerely make an effort to save them.

Speaking on the occasion, eminent neurologist and former director of NIMHANS Dr P Satishchandra said people should be aware of the BE-FAST' method to detect a stroke -- where B stands for Balance, E for Eyes, F for Face, A for Arms, S for Speech and T for Time.

"These are the five symptoms. If there is less strength in the arm, if one lisps or stammers, if there is difficulty in eyes, if there are changes in the face, then without wasting time rush to a hospital," he said.

It is also important to take the patient to the right hospital, Dr Satishchandra added. He said the hospital where the patient is taken should be stroke ready.

"It should be a hospital which has all the equipment and experts required for treating stroke patients. Then we get the time. We call it the 'golden hour', which means the patient should be brought within three hours. Once the patient is brought within three hours, we get one hour to start our other works," the doctor explained.

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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.”