Rs 178 Cr package for coconut growers
Cabinet takes a decision
Bengaluru, October 04: The Cabinet on Thursday decided to release Rs 178 crore package for the coconut growers whose coconut plantations have become unproductive due to continuous drought in the state.
After the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy at Vidhana Soudha here, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that it was decided to give Rs 400 per tree or Rs 18,000 per hectare of plantation as relief package, for which, the Horticulture department would submit a proposal . The state government had submitted a proposal to the central government for incentive for the coconut growers a year ago. But nothing was happened. So, it was decided to give incentive to the farmers and this would help the growers in Chitradurga, Tumkur, Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Mandya and other places, he said.
As the agreement between the state government and the GVK Company to provide 108 ambulance service was expired, it was decided to continue the old agreement for one more year with the company. Within next one year, tender process for the fresh agreement and ambulance service would be completed, he said.
The Cabinet has given administrative approval to take up various development works at Hassan government engineering college at a cost of Rs 50 crore. It was also approved to set up a super speciality hospital on the premises of the Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences at a cost of Rs 129.75 crore and in the first phase, Rs 50 crore would be released immediately, he said.
The Cabinet also decided to set up Government Tool Room and Training Centre in Yadagiri, Humnabad, Lingasugur and Hospet in collaboration with Dassault Systemes India Private Limited at a cost of Rs 224.08 crore, of which, the government would invest Rs 21.7 crore and the rest would be borne by the Dassault company, he said.
The Cabinet also decided to withdraw the proposal submitted to the Central government in 2016 on appointing retired IAS officer V. Umesh as the State Administrative Tribunal Member and set up State Horticulture Excellent Centres Agency in the state. The Cabinet also decided to give Rs 2,000 monthly pension for five years along with Rs 5 lakh compensation to the family of those who were killed from wild animals attacks, he said.
The Cabinet also decided to handover 4.7 acre of land belonging to KSRTC Hassan Regional Workshop to Hassan Cooperative Milk Union and withdraw 14 criminal cases booked against Raita Sangha, Pro-Kannada activists and general public in various police stations across the state, the Minister added.
It was decided to start cardiac treatment unit with Cath Lab facility in Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences at Rs 7.25 crore and cardiac treatment centre along with the Cath Lab facility at Super Specialty Hospital of Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences at a cost of Rs 7.81 crore, he said.
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.”
_vb_22.jpeg)
