Vaccine shortage in Karnataka to be sorted out in 2 to 3 days: CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, May 1: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday said the shortage of vaccine in the state will be sorted out in the next three days, as he made a symbolic start of the inoculation drive for people above 18 years.
Yediyurappa's statement comes a day after he said vaccination for people above 18 years of age will be delayed as the vaccine has not been supplied yet to the state.
"I have come here to make a symbolic start of the vaccination drive for people above 18 years of age.
As per the directions of Government of India, the drive to vaccinate people about 18 years of age is starting from today," Yediyurappa told reporters.
He said his government has decided to give vaccines free of cost to people about 18 years of age.
The state has received three lakh vaccines from the Centre while there was a stock of one lakh vaccines in Karnataka.
On the full fledged vaccination drive for people above 18 years, the Chief Minister said the state government has paid money to purchase two crore vaccines.
"I am 100 per cent confident that things will improve in the next two to three days.. I have set a target to vaccinate 3.26 crore people of the state," the Chief Minister said.
Regarding the black marketing of Remdesivir injection, which is crucial for the COVID-19 treatment, Yediyurappa warned of stringent action against those involved in the crime.
To a question on the shortage of beds, the CM said, "I am going to discuss with Dr Devi Shetty and the head of 8 to 10 big hospitals at 4 pm today, the shortage of bed and oxygen to find a solution."
The vaccination drive for people above 18 years could not take off fully as vaccines did not arrive from the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.
Karnataka is also banking on Dr Reddy Laboratory, which according to state Health Minister K Sudhakar, has got the contract to produce Russia's Sputnik vaccine.
Karnataka is rushing to get the people of the state vaccinated as the state reported over 48,000 cases on Friday while 217 people died.
The active cases have reached close to four lakh in the state.
Half of Karnataka's COVID tally, fatalities and active cases are in Bengaluru alone.
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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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