K'taka rights groups urge PM Modi to visit "sites of injustices" in Bengaluru, instead of roadshows
Bengaluru: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi gears up for a roadshow in Bengaluru as part of the BJP's election campaign, two rights groups in Karnataka have prepared an alternative route map known as the "citizens' route map." The groups, Bahutva Karnataka and Eddelu Karnataka, are urging the Prime Minister to avoid the roadshow and instead visit the "sites of injustices" in the city. According to the groups, the citizens' route map highlights the issues of marginalized communities and seeks to draw attention to the need for urgent action.
They have also called for Modi to conduct a 'Jan Ki Baat' press meet to engage with the public and address their concerns. The alternative route map comes in the wake of growing concerns about the BJP's election campaign and the party's approach to governance. Both Bahutva Karnataka and Eddelu Karnataka have been vocal in their criticism of the ruling party, accusing them of neglecting the welfare of marginalized communities and pursuing divisive policies.
Here is the full text of the route map:
Karnataka is having a state election. We will vote on what the current government has done and not done for the state. We do not know why your party is asking for votes in the name of the Prime Minister and not the Chief Minister. We do not know why you need to come do a road show here, for which lots of trees have had branches cut, street vendors prevented from doing business and roads blocked.
Given you are coming, we would like you to go to these spots.
Please follow the citizen’s route map and answer these questions.
Day 1 – Visit the sites of Injustice
Day 2- Stay in Freedom Park
Detailed Schedule
1) Shivaram Karanth layout – Ignoring the demands of farmers for fair compensation, Karnataka government destroyed standing crops. Gave notices to farmers preventing from protesting!
Q: How will you double the income of farmers when you won’t even let them farm?
2) ITI where workers were laid off for unionising, which is their right. This comes under your government and your minister turned a deaf ear.
Q: Why is the Contract Labour (abolition and regulation) Act 1970 not followed by your government?
3) Jayanagar BDA Complex – The BBMP violated the Street Vendors Act 2014 by evicting 300+ vendors without even giving notice? Not just that , the government has refused to conduct a survey of street vendors.
Q: Why does your government refuse to protect the rights of Street Vendors?
4) Ejipura EWS quarters where the Yeddyurappa government gave this land on a platter to BJP MLA Mr. Garudachar who has still failed to construct houses. The Lokayukta recommended to the BBMP to take back the land but the government has not done so.
Q: Why is your government helping builders at the cost of slum dwellers?
5) Electronic City – In the Electronic city police station limits, terrorist Puneeth Kerehalli used a stun gun on a citizen and broadcast it live. Yet no action was taken.
Q: Does your government not believe in rule of law? Can anyone use stun guns publicly?
Lunchbreak : You can have lunch at the closest Indira canteen you get and answer why the state government has cut funds for this pro-poor canteen
6) Majestic bus stand. Please ask bus commuters about the troubles they face. In 2018 your party manifesto promised doubling of bus fleet. Instead out of the 6500 buses, only 5600 are on road as your government has stopped hiring of drivers.
Q: Does your government want to weaken or strengthen BMTC?
7) Cottonpet police station – A dalit youth was killed in police custody here. Atrocities against Dalits are at an all time high and convictions at an all time low.
Q: Does your government not care for the welfare of Dalits?
8) Mahadevapura where Powrakarmikas stay in tents and had their houses flooded and damaged due to rain. Powrakarmikas are struggling as your government promised to regularize powrakarmikas but back-tracked and cheated them.
Q: Does the labout of Dalit- Bahujan women not count?
9) Visit any of the new Namma Clinics set up by your government or PHCs.
Q: Why do the public health facilities not have enough medicines or staff?
10) Devanahalli, where farmers who are protesting land acquisition had cases filed against them because the protest was not at Freedom Park.
Q: Why does your government stifle every protesting voice? Do farmers not have freedom of speech and expression under your government ?
Day 2
Please stay only in Freedom park. When citizens are restricted to Freedom Park for protests, when our rallies are not allowed, why should politicians be able to roam around everywhere ?
Please conduct a press meet there and also listen to Jan ki Baat.
Please allow any and all citizens to come and ask you questions.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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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