Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw meets CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM Shivakumar
Bengaluru (PTI) : Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Tuesday met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar to greet them on the occasion of Deepavali, and assured cooperation and support for Bengaluru's development.
Shaw has been critical of Bengaluru's infrastructure woes by highlighting them through her social media posts, and has been repeatedly urging the state government to intervene.
Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in-charge of Bengaluru Development, later told reporters that Shaw has assured cooperation and support of the industry for the development of Bengaluru.
"Biocon chief Kiran Muzumdar-Shaw visited Cauvery (CM's official residence) and wished Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Deepavali. Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti was present on the occasion," the CM's office said in a statement.
Shaw met Shivakumar at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru.
Asked whether there was any discussion regarding Bengaluru with Shaw, Shivakumar, said, "Of course, they (industry leaders) have agreed that they are going to cooperate with the development of Bengaluru and they will not hurt Bengaluru. They will support the system."
He added that he has called a meeting of local bodies adjacent to the Greater Bengaluru Authority area. "I will be visiting those areas on Thursday and on Friday. I will be calling a meeting. Those areas will be part of the development. There is a huge difference in tax between those areas and Bengaluru Corporation (GBA). We have to see to it that all those areas are also developed."
Noting that IT/BT and other industries have said that they will cooperate for Bengaluru development, the Deputy CM said he will call them for a meeting.
"Now I'm visiting all the five corporations and meeting people there. After that I will be calling IT/BT people separately...I will discuss it with them. I have sought their cooperation," he added.
The state government has come under criticism over the poor state of roads and traffic issues in the city for some time now, with industry veterans like former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Shaw repeatedly openly urging the state government to immediately intervene.
Faced with mounting criticism from industry leaders, Shivakumar, had recently urged them to stop "hurting" the city and the state that have contributed to their growth.
Pointing out that the government was making all efforts to fix the issues, he had appealed to industry leaders not to forget their "roots"'--Bengaluru, Karnataka, and its people--and asked them to be patient, stressing that "there is a limitation for everything."
With the Deputy CM subsequently alleging that Shaw and Mohandas Pai had some "personal agenda", as they did not raise any issues relating to Bengaluru infrastructure during the BJP regime, Shaw, rejecting it, had posted on 'X', "Not true. Both T V Mohandas Pai and I have criticised deteriorating infrastructure in our city to previous BJP & JDS Governments. Our agenda is clear, clean up and restore roads."
Later in the day, Shaw also met veteran BJP leader and former CM B S Yediyurappa at his residence.
She also called on BJP MLA and former Deputy CM C N Ashwath Narayan at his residence.
"It was a pleasure to receive Ms. Kiran Shaw, Founder & Executive Chairperson of Biocon, at my residence today. She visited to invite me to a family function, and I congratulated her on being ranked the 3rd richest woman in the world," Narayan posted on 'X'.
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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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