Special team constituted to stop digging of illegal borewells in Bengaluru Urban district: Minister
Bengaluru, Nov 9: Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister N S Boseraju on Thursday said a special team comprising senior officers has been constituted to prevent digging of illegal borewells in Bengaluru Urban district.
He said this needs to be done to prevent the depletion of the groundwater table.
"It is true that, of late, permission is not being obtained to dig borewells in Bengaluru Urban district. We need to stop this as there have been complaints. I have instructed the Directorate of Groundwater to look into the matter," Boseraju said.
The special team has been told to conduct random checks of borewells in surprise raids.
He also directed the Chief Engineer of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to instruct officials to conduct checks.
The special team has been constituted, as per the minister's directions, under the leadership of Deputy Director of the Directorate of Groundwater G Jayanna and senior geologist H M Nagaraj, it was stated.
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Bill to set up single higher education regulator likely to be tabled in Parliament next week
New Delhi (PTI): A Bill which seeks to set up a single regulator for institutions of higher education is required to facilitate universities and other higher educational institutes become independent and self-governing, officials said.
The Bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament next week after it got the Union Cabinet's nod on Friday.
The proposed legislation, which was earlier christened the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, has now been named Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill.
A single higher education regulator, which was proposed in the new National Education Policy (NEP), looks to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
"The Bill proposes to set up a Higher Education Commission of India to facilitate universities and other higher educational institutes become independent and self-governing institutions and to promote excellence through a robust and transparent system of accreditation and autonomy. It is likely to be introduced (in Parliament) in the coming week," an official said.
While the UGC presently oversees non-technical higher education in the country, the AICTE oversees technical education, while the NCTE is the regulatory body for teachers' education.
The Commission is proposed to be set up as a single higher education regulator, but medical and law colleges will not be brought under its ambit.
It is proposed to have three major roles -- regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards, officials said.
Funding, which is seen as the fourth vertical, is not proposed to be under the regulator so far. The autonomy for funding is proposed to be with the administrative ministry, they said.
