Mother-son duo in Bengaluru assault BBMP sanitation workers over garbage dispute
Bengaluru: Five women sanitation workers, known as pourakarmikas, employed by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), were assaulted by a mother and her son in Byadarahalli on Wednesday, September 11. The incident occurred after a dispute over garbage collection outside the duo's residence, and the assault was captured in a video that has since gone viral on social media.
The Byadarahalli Police have registered an FIR against the accused under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Amendment Ordinance-2014, along with various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to causing injury, criminal intimidation, and intentional insult. The complaint was lodged by Lakshmi C, one of the injured workers.
According to the complaint, the accused, identified as Chandru and his mother, residents of 14th Cross at Bharathnagar in Byadarahalli, approached the sanitation workers while they were cleaning the street. Chandru's mother demanded that the workers clear a pile of garbage outside their house. The workers explained that the waste was too much for them to manage and asked her to wait for the auto tipper that regularly collects large amounts of waste.
However, the situation quickly escalated. Lakshmi reported that Chandru’s mother verbally abused the workers, stating that they were paid with the tax money from their family and called her son to "teach them a lesson," using derogatory remarks about their caste. When Lakshmi attempted to record Chandru's abusive comments, he allegedly snatched her phone, threw it to the ground, and physically assaulted her by pulling her hair, slapping her, and tearing her uniform.
The situation worsened when Lakshmi's colleagues tried to intervene. Chandru, with help from his mother, allegedly assaulted the other workers as well, including hitting Ramakka on the hand and kicking Asha, Munirathna, and Anniyamma. Chandru also issued death threats during the altercation, according to Lakshmi's complaint.
Fearing for their jobs, the sanitation workers refrained from retaliating and instead reported the incident to their superior. Despite this, the verbal and physical abuse continued in the presence of the superior. Eventually, the workers approached the police, leading to Chandru’s detention.
As a result of the attack, Lakshmi's phone, worth Rs 30,000, was damaged, and Ramakka’s bangles were broken. Lakshmi sustained injuries to her back, head, and stomach, while her colleagues suffered minor injuries.
Nirmala M, president of the BBMP Pourakarmika Sangha, condemned the assault, stating, "We are not slaves. We are respected people, and we're just doing our job. Using abusive language and violence against us is unacceptable. We urge the police to take swift action and arrest the accused immediately."
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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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