Karnataka to decide on relaxing curbs on Ganesha festival based on inputs from experts: CM Bommai
Bengaluru, Aug 31: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said the government will take a decision on relaxing restrictions on Ganesha festival celebrations, on September 5, after getting necessary inputs from the districts and the expert committee.
The Chief Minister who held a meeting with senior Ministers, officials and experts on Monday had deferred a decision on allowing full-fledged Ganesha festival celebrations for which several BJP leaders and groups with Sangh Parivar background were mounting pressure.
"Right decision has to be taken at the right time, all the inputs that were required from various districts were not there at yesterday's meeting. We have sought inputs from Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of police of all the districts, and the health department has been asked to do a complete analysis," Bommai said in response to a question on "delay" in the decision.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "the opinion was to take guidance from the expert committee on what decision has to be taken and necessary measures to be put in place. They have sought some time, so on September 5 we will hold a meeting, and we will decide on it." Several organisations and political leaders, mostly from the BJP and with Sangh Parivar background have been demanding relaxation of restrictions on Ganesha festival.
Citing COVID, the government had earlier banned the public celebration of the Ganesha festival by setting up pandals, and had said that people must celebrate it in their homes and no procession will be allowed while bringing the Ganesha idol or during the immersion of the idols.
Meanwhile, terming the road accident that occured in the city during the early hours of Tuesday in which seven youth, including a Tamil Nadu MLA's son, were killed as "shocking", Bommai said, police will inquire into the reasons for the accident.
"One should be careful while driving during the night time for safety of self and others. Safety rules like speed limit, signals, road humps have to be followed, to avoid such accidents," he said.
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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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