Party leadership will decide on who will play what role in Rajasthan: Sachin Pilot
Bengaluru, Sep 1: Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said the party leadership will take a decision on who-will-play-what-role in the future, amid speculation about Cabinet expansion in that state and possible induction of him and his loyalists into the Ministry.
He said he is in touch with the Congress high command over party issues raised by him and hoped that required steps will be taken by the top leadership.
Pilot and 18 other MLAs had rebelled against the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot last year. After a month-long crisis, the Congress high command had formed a committee to look into the issues raised by them.
"It's been a year since a committee was formed.....I think the party and the government need to work together to make sure that in 2023 when elections come again we fulfill all our promises made in the manifesto to make sure we come back with a bigger majority," he said in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said he doesn't want to speculate on reports about him being made Congress in-charge for Gujarat or the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
"Who becomes what, who takes over what position, who is Minister, who is party president or the Chief Minister, that decision is taken by the party leadership in Delhi," he added.
Pilot had recently raked up the issue of non-resolution of commitments made to him, and leaders close to him had said they were losing patience over the long wait for getting their due. They had also claimed they were being "pressured" by Chief Minister Gehlot to leave their leader's side.
To a question on whether issues raised by him have been resolved, Pilot said there was a committee formed last year for this, but unfortunately senior leader Ahmed Patel, who was part of it, died, but the other two members and AICC are in constant touch with him.
Stating that Rajasthan is a "strong Congress state" and there are some views he needed to share, he said the Congress president took cognisance of those views and formed a committee, and "we are working towards achieving things".
"I think it is important to share views and thoughts on how we can have a better functioning government where every party worker feels he is a stakeholder in the setup....so those issues (raised by him) are being worked out," he added.
To a question on cabinet expansion in Rajasthan, and about it being postponed repeatedly, Pilot said as far as he knows, AICC and the Chief Minister are discussing it. "As and when we have news on whatever will happen, it will be known." On reports that the Congress high command has given the go ahead for cabinet expansion, he said he is not aware of it and that the party general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken has held many rounds of consultations with MLAs and leaders.
Asked about factionalism in his party in various states, the former Union Minister said "It is only the Congress party that can challenge and overtake the BJP in general elections. In our party, unlike some other parties, there is room for discussions; of course sometimes discussions are not as pleasant as one would like it to be, but ultimately the voice of the party worker, voice of the state leader, national leader is heard and we come out with a unanimous decision," he said.
Responding to a question on difference of opinion between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party's Chief Minister in Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh on revamped Jallianwala Bagh, Pilot said "just because some statements have come, you can't put those two in context, everyone you speak to have an opinion, but ultimately what the AICC says and does is the view of the party."
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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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