K'taka govt releases Rs 200 crore for rain relief, rehabilitation
Bengaluru, Aug 6: As torrential rains continue to batter many parts of Karnataka on Saturday, the State government released Rs 200 crore to take up relief and rehabilitation operations, even as Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai instructed constitution of two more State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) contingents.
The Chief Minister, who has tested COVID-19 positive, held a video conference with Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of rain-affected districts, Ministers and officials, and obtained details on flood havoc, landslides, crop losses and relief work undertaken, from his home where he has isolated himself.
While 70 people have lost their lives due to incessant rains from June 1 to August 6; a total of 507 livestock loss have been reported during the period.
Bommai has instructed the officials to constitute the additional SDRF contingents to strengthen relief and rescue systems, his office said in a statement.
"Already, SDRF and NDRF contingents have been deployed in the flood-hit areas. The DCs should maintain constant contact with the teams and take up immediate relief and rehabilitation works," he said.
Further stating that there is no shortage of funds for relief and rehabilitation operations, the Chief Minister said already Rs 200 crore has been released for 21 districts, and the DCs should take immediate action to disburse compensation for houses destroyed or damaged.
According to information, till August 2, a sum of Rs 657 crore was available with the DCs to take up rescue and relief works, and the State government today released Rs 200 crore for 21 districts.
Repair and restoration of roads, bridges and electric supply lines should be taken up immediately, he said, power supply in villages should be restored and DCs should interact with the electricity supply companies (ESCOMS) concerned in this regard.
Adequate stock of electric poles and transformers should be ensured, and crop loss survey should be completed at the earliest and compensation disbursed without any delay, he added.
Bommai wanted the officials to issue flood alerts in advance and instructed for action in this regard at Bennehalla in Gadag district, Varada river banks in Haveri district and other places.
Alerts should be issued to villages downstream before releasing waters from reservoirs, and precautions should be taken to prevent breach of tank bunds, he said.
He wanted the officials to also identify the areas prone to landslides in Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts and to shift the people in these areas to safer places. "People should be provided with good, quality food at the care centres," he said.
While 3,559 houses have been damaged completely due to rains, 17,212 houses have been partially damaged,.
Agriculture crops in 1,29,087 hectares, horticulture crops in 7,942 hectares, 3,162 km of roads, 8,445 km of rural roads, 1,068 bridges and culverts, 4,531 schools, 222 anganwadis have been damaged.
Also, 16,760 electric poles, 1,469 transformers, 409 km of electric wires, and 33 minor irrigation tanks have been damaged.
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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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