India rout Uzbekistan 16-0 in Asian Games men's hockey goalfest
Hangzhou (PTI): Lalit Upadhyay, Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh slammed a hat-trick each as India started their men's hockey campaign at the Asian Games with a 16-0 rout of lowly-ranked Uzbekistan here on Sunday.
Ranked third in the world, India began the match as clear favourites against the world No. 66 Uzbeks and expectedly dominated the proceedings from start to finish in the Pool A match.
Lalit (7th, 24th, 37th, 53rd) and Varun (12th, 36th, 50th, 52nd) fired in four goals each, while Mandeep (18th, 27th, 28th minutes) found the net thrice.
Abhishek (17th), Amit Rohidas (38th), Sukhjeet (42nd), Shamsher Singh (43rd) and Sanjay (57th) were the other goal scorers as India toyed with the Uzbek defence all through the match.
India skipper Harmanpreet Singh did not play the match as he was rested after donning the responsibility of being the joint flag-bearer along with Olympic medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Saturday.
It was a complete domination from the Indians who took seven minutes to break the deadlock, but once they did, it was complete mayhem for Uzbekistan.
It was raining penalty corners for India as they secured as many as 14 in the entire 60 minutes but converted just five, which should be a cause for concern for chief coach Craig Fulton.
But what is heartening is the display of the forward-line as it combined well with the midfield to pump in 10 goals, while the other came from a penalty stroke in the 36th minute.
The Indians got their first chance in the fifth minute but Abhishek's tap from close range was saved by Uzbek goalkeeper Davlat Tolibbaev.
Minutes later Sukhjeet earned India's first penalty corner but Sanjay's flick was kept away by Tolibbaev.
But India broke the deadlock seconds later when Lalit scored from a rebound after Tolibbaev had made a double save.
Varun doubled India's lead in the 12th minute by converting a penalty corner with a powerful low flick to the left of the Uzbek goalkeeper.
Just at the start of the second quarter, India secured another penalty corner but once again Tolibbaev came to his side's rescue to deny Sanjay.
Besides scoring, Mandeep was the live-wire upfront setting up goals for his teammates with his brilliant dribbling skills.
India scored their third goal in the 17th minute through Abhishek, who spun brilliantly to outwit his marker and tap past Tolibbaev after being set up by Mandeep's terrific work from the left flank.
Minutes from half-time, Mandeep joined the party, scoring two goals in a span of a minute.
It was raining penalty corners for India, who earned two more in a span of three minutes but wasted both as the reigning Olympic bronze medallists led 7-0 at the half-way break.
The trend continued after the change of ends as both the Indian goalkeepers -- PR Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak --, who took turns to defend the goal in the four quarters, remained mere spectators with the action completely going on at the other side of the pitch.
The Indians looked more threatening in the last two quarters as they pumped in nine more goals -- four came from penalty corners, one from the spot and the remaining four from field play as Fulton's boys completed a resounding victory.
India will play Singapore in their next pool match on Tuesday.
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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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