Hockey WC: Germany, South Korea book quarterfinal berths
Bhubaneswar, Jan 23: South Korea stunned 2016 Olympic champions Argentina in the penalty shootout to book a quarterfinal berth, while Germany also reached the last eight stage after an easy 5-1 win over France in the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup here on Monday.
The South Koreans, who had finished third in Pool B, won 3-2 in the penalty shootout after the two sides were locked 5-5 in regulation time in an entertaining and high high-scoring crossover match at the near-full Kalinga Stadium.
They rode on an inspired performance from their 38-year-old veteran Jang Jonghyun, who converted two penalty corners.
Veteran captain Lee Nam Yong, 39, was also among the scorers as he struck the equalising goal in the 56th minute while Kim Sunghyun (18th) and Jeong Junwoo (20th) scored the other goals for the South Koreans in the regulation time.
Nicolas Keenan (21st and 47th minutes) as well as Nicolas Della Torre (24th and 41st) struck twice each for Argentina while Maico Casella (8th minute) scored the other goal in the regulation time.
South Korea remained the only Asian country in the quarterfinals and will face Pool C toppers the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Argentina will play against Chile in their 9th to 16th classification match on January 26 in Rourkela.
Earlier in the day, Germany pumped in three goals in the second quarter to beat France 5-1 in their crossover match and make it to the quarterfinals.
Marco Miltkau (15th minute) gave Germany the lead in the first quarter with a field effort before a three-goal burst in the second.
Niklas Wellen (19th), Mats Grambusch (23rd) and Moritz Trompertz (25th) were on target in the second quarter.
Gonzalo Peillat (60th), who had earlier represented Argentina, struck from the penalty in the last minute of the match. Germany earned as many as nine penalty corners from which they scored twice.
Germany, who had finished second behind defending champions Belgium, will face Pool D toppers England in the quarterfinals here on Wednesday.
Francois Goyet (57th) was the lone scorer for France, who had finished third in Pool A, as they made exit from the tournament. They also got nine PCs -- with seven coming in the fourth quarter -- from which they scored only once.
France will play Wales, who had finished at the bottom of Pool D, in their first 9th to 16th classification match on January 26 in Rourkela.
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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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