Indian chess players' valuables stolen after multiple room break-ins in Spain
New Delhi, Dec 26: Some of the frontline Indian chess players, including GM Sankalp Gupta, went through a torrid time while participating in the recent Sunway International chess tournament at Sitges, Spain, as they lost several valuables after break-ins at their apartments.
The train of unsavoury incidents started on December 19 with a break-in at the Apollo apartment, a property provided by the organisers for participants, where International Master Dushyant Sharma and Sankalp were sharing the accommodation.
This break-in happened when the duo was out of their room and Dushyant lost his passport, laptop and cash from the room.
Though Sankalp was robbed of his laptop and air-pods, his passport was safe.
But that was not the end of miseries for them as the translator interpreted wrongly that the players left the doors and windows open, hinting that the burglary was because of their negligence.
"We rectified this mistake in the report (to the organisers) later", said Dushyant.
Dushyant, in fact, had to leave the tournament to get the document to come back home.
Interestingly, Sankalp was able to track his air-pods online but the player complained that he did not get any support to retrieve them from Barcelona.
Three days later, Sunway San Jorge Apartment was targeted by the burglars after the last round.
Women's IM Mounika Akshaya and WGM Srija Seshadri were away for an evening walk and IM CRG Krishna was sleeping inside the room while burglars entered the apartment.
Their valuables like laptop and mobile phones were taken away, but fortunately, Krishna was not harmed.
On December 23, Sunway Arizona Apartments had a break-in when WIM Arpita Mukherjee and WFM Vishwa Shah were sleeping in the bedroom.
Between 2:30 am and 6 am, their laptops, mobile phones and cash were stolen from the bedside tables. Luckily, the players were left unharmed by the perpetrators.
"The organisers claim this happened for the first time in 10 years but while reading reviews on Google, I found out that there have been multiple such break-ins recently", wrote Sankalp to the organisers.
My depressing robbery story at Sunway Sitges Chess Festival 2023, Spain. I request the authorities to kindly take action in this since I am not the only player who suffered from this event. pic.twitter.com/FzHzRR289p
— Mounika Akshaya (@MounikaAkshaya) December 23, 2023
Robbery at Sunway Arizona apartments on 23.12.23 midnight. Laptop,mobile,bag & money stolen. Similar incidents with Indian chess players in other apartments. Requesting @SunwayChessOpen @aicfchess @ianuragthakur @IndiainSpain for prompt action. Massive security breach!
— Arpita Mukherjee (@arpita_chess) December 23, 2023
Burglary in #SPAIN #Sunway APOLO APARTMENT on 19 Dec in my room. My Laptop, Passport, cash etc & my roommate’s laptop,airpods stolen. Later on,similar thefts happened with other Indian chess players too. Requesting @SunwayChessOpen @IndiainSpain @ianuragthakur @DrSJaishankar Help pic.twitter.com/daKdjusy45
— Dushyant Sharma (@chess_dushyant) December 24, 2023
Official statement regarding isolated incidents during the @chessable Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival 2023. pic.twitter.com/qdYNpr8pU0
— Sunway Chess Festival (@SunwayChessOpen) December 24, 2023
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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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