Kumaraswamy hits out at Congress, says it has continued East India Company's corrupt legacy
Bengaluru, Aug 04: Alleging rampant corruption in the Congress government in Karnataka, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Friday said a Minister has demanded ''certain percentage'' from contractors in his department, while in Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officers have been told to collect Rs 250 crore to be ''delivered to Delhi''.
On his arrival in Bengaluru from Europe trip with the family, the former CM also hit out at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar for claiming that a plot was being hatched in Singapore to topple the government and said the former has made such claims as he probably knows that this government will not complete its term. ''Couple of days ago, in a department, the Minister asked contractors to give a certain percentage, I got this information during my Europe trip. When the contractors association decided to have a meeting with the Minister on getting to know about the demand, 2-3 agents at the Ministers office told them they can go in if they have got money,'' Kumaraswamy said.
Speaking to reporters at the airport late Thursday night, referring to the ''entire'' state cabinet meeting the Congress leadership in Delhi recently, he asked, ''Will such people after going before Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and discussing corruption, stop corruption and bring a transparent administration?'' The anti corruption image the Congress wants to build is only for the outside world, Kumaraswamy said. ''If I have to tell you the true story of Congress, that party is for 'Vasooli' (taking bribery). East India Company (British East India Company) left us, but they handed over the administration of the country to the Congress party before leaving, the grand old party has continued East India Company's corrupt legacy.'' Within two months of coming to power the level of corruption in the Congress government was rampant, he said, adding, ''BDA officials have told me that they have been told that Rs 250 crore has to be collected to be sent to Delhi, and they will be given the list.'' When told Shivakumar is incharge of BDA, where he has alleged corruption, the former CM said, ''he has taken it (department) for that reason....to make (Bengaluru) Singapore.'' Despite being on a foreign tour he was gathering day-to-day developments in the state, Kumaraswamy said, adding the way in which ''transfer business'' took place in the police department will cause disrepute to the force.
''If you bring down police officials to this level, to what extent will they provide protection to the common people?,'' he asked, When the meeting took place between senior officials, the Home Minister and the CM regarding police transfers, a certain ''YST tax'' people were present there, he claimed, without taking any name.
Criticising the functioning of the present administration, he said now it has put those transfers on hold.
Kumaraswamy was referring to Karnataka government's decision to keep transfer of police inspectors in abeyance until further orders, a day after it transferred 211 police inspectors across the state. According to reports, the decision to put transfers on hold was taken after some party leaders and legislators expressed displeasure.
Noting that Shivakumar claimed that a plot is being hatched to topple the government after he left for a family trip, the JDS leader said, ''It shows how much our intelligence department is functioning. I had left that night with my brothers and sisters and entire family to European country for a 15-day trip, but in the morning a situation was created as though I was trying to bring down this government in Singapore'' It shows the fear the Congress has towards him and JD(S), despite it winning just 19 seats, he said. Shivakumar might have said it, as most probably he knows that this government will not complete its term.
''He (Shivakumar) follows astrology more than us. He makes different kinds of conspiracies with the help of astrology. The artificial strength he has got from it during the election -- he knows that the artificial strength will not stay for long, so might have made such statements,'' he added.
To a query regarding veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa too going on a foreign trip around the same time when he was not in the country, Kumaraswamy said he might have gone with his family and sought to know why should it be politicised. Clarifying on having ''friendly ties'' with BJP, he said, ''No, as an opposition party, when the public money is looted, it's my duty to work in the opposition, so I have raised my voice. Has BJP developed the state?'' Hitting back, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, Kumaraswamy is a known ''hit and run case always''.
Pointing to Kumaraswamy accusing the Congress government of corruption with a claim that he was ready to give a pen drive that had proof, the CM asked, ''did he prove that? There should be proof (of corruption) to release. Will he keep it in his pocket?''
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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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