India will have to wait for another three World Cups if they don't win it this time: Ravi Shastri
New Delhi, Nov 12: India will probably have to wait for another three World Cups to have a shot at the title if they are not able to extend their dominant run in the ongoing edition, reckons Ravi Shastri.
Speaking to Club Prairie Fire podcast, Shastri said a majority of the squad members are at their peak, providing India the best chance to end their ICC title drought.
Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan were also part of the podcast.
"This country is going mad. The last time they won it was 12 years ago. They have an opportunity to do it again. The way they are playing, this is probably their best chance," said the former India head coach.
"If they miss out this time, they would probably have to wait another three World Cups for even thinking of trying to win it. The pool of players are such the 7-8 players are at their peak.
"This could well be their last World Cup. The way they are playing, given the conditions, they have got the team to win it."
The Indian bowling attack has demolished batters thus far in the competition. The pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj has made the ball talk the most while the spin combine of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav has been relentless in the middle overs.
Shastri feels the current lot of bowlers is the best India have ever had.
"It is extraordinary and it has taken time, it has not happened overnight. They have been playing with each (of them) for four to five years. Siraj joined the party three years ago.
"They know the kind of areas to hit on a consistent basis. They know it is not important to look flashy when you bowl. It is more about consistency and getting the ball in the right areas.
"In this World Cup, they have bowled hardly any short balls. if there is a short ball, it is used as a surprise weapon. 90 per cent of the time they have been targeting the stumps like you must do in India hitting those three-quarters lengths.
"Because of their seam positions, they are getting the ball to nip around and that is causing a lot of problems. It is the best attack in 50 years ever since white-ball cricket started," he added.
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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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