Unlock 3.0: Religious places, malls open; transport back to full capacity in Karnataka
Bengaluru: With the Karnataka government further easing restrictions under "Unlock 3.0" effective from Monday, life seems to have returned to normalcy as shops, restaurants, malls, private offices and religious places began their operations in full swing.
Also, all public transport- buses and metro- were seen operating up to its seating capacity.
These services will be available for the public till 9 PM, as the government is imposing night curfew till 5 AM.
With the government allowing places of worship to open only for darshan, people, though fewer in number, were seen visiting temples following COVID precautionary measures at several places in the city.
Similar reports are emerging from across the state.
As offices and business establishments have been allowed to function at full working strength, traffic congestion was seen on streets in Bengaluru and other cities with office-goers getting back to work.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has said that bus services will be operated between 5 AM and 9 PM with all precautionary measures, and 4,500 buses will operate in the city and suburban area.
The corporation said based on passenger volume, services will be increased.
Officials were seen ensuring that there is no overcrowding in buses and passengers don't travel by standing.
Bengaluru Metro has said, Metros will operate from 7 AM to 8 PM from Monday to Friday, with frequency of 5-15 minutes in peak and non-peak hours, and on Saturday, Sunday and general holidays it will be with increased or decreased frequency, depending on the situation.
Customers were seen in good numbers at hotels and restaurants across the city. Also, bars will be open from Monday, but pubs will not.
The new guidelines that were announced by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday, have come into effect from 6 AM on July 5 and will be in force up to 6 AM on July 19.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant has said that a total of 54 special teams comprising Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) marshals and city police personnel will be deployed across the city to impose fines and register cases on individuals and commercial establishments that violate COVID-19 norms.
"I urge everyone to strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour for our own safety. Remember, the cases have decreased, but the virus is still around," he has tweeted.
In the guidelines, all shops, restaurants, malls, private offices and closed places have been asked to strictly enforce COVID appropriate behaviour failing which action will be initiated under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
While, marriages and family functions are permitted to be conducted involving not more than 100 people and strictly adhering to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and prevailing guidelines, cremation and funerals to be allowed with maximum of 20 people.
While night curfew will continue between 9 PM and 5 AM, the weekend curfew has been lifted.
Theatres, cinema halls and pubs will remain closed, while swimming pools, sports complexes and stadia are permitted for competitive training and practice purposes by strictly adhering to COVID appropriate behaviour.
All social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions, other gatherings and large congregations, continue to be prohibited.
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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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