Virat Kohli hits nets, could return for decisive third Test against SA
Cape Town, Jan 9: India Test captain Virat Kohli hit the nets on Sunday and if his cover drives and off drives were any indication, he could return for the decisive third match against South Africa after missing the second game due to a back spasm.
The Indian team began training for the third and final Test hoping to recover from the defeat in Johannesburg and claim its maiden series win in the Rainbow Nation.
"We are here at the picturesque Cape Town. #TeamIndia begin preparations for the 3rd Test," the BCCI tweeted along with a picture of the Indian camp after the visiting players hit the ground running at the magnificent Newlands Stadium.
The third Test is scheduled to be played here from January 11-15.
If Kohli is declared match fit, Hanuma Vihari will make way for the Indian talisman.
"It's GO time here in Cape Town. #TeamIndia all set and prepping for the series decider," the BCCI wrote in another tweet alongside a host of pictures including Kohli batting at the nets.
Seeking to win their first-ever series on South African soil, India began the rubber on a rousing note, winning the opener at Centurion by 113 runs before succumbing to a seven-wicket defeat in the second Test at Johannesburg.
The Indian team arrived at Cape Town on Saturday.
The visitors were without the services of Kohli at the Wanderers but after the game, head coach Rahul Dravid had said he was hopeful of the captain returning for the series-deciding match.
Kohli had missed the previous Test due to an upper back spasm, leading to the elevation of vice-captain KL Rahul to the top job.
"Virat Kohli should be fine from all accounts, he should be fine. He has had the opportunity to run around a little bit, he has had the opportunity to test it a little bit," Dravid had said during a virtual press conference.
"Hopefully with a couple of net sessions in Cape Town, he should be good to go. Everything I am hearing and just having a chat with him, he should be good to go in four days time."
As far as the Indian team's pace bowling department is concerned, veteran seamer Ishant Sharma is likely to come in place of Mohammed Siraj, who had suffered a hamstring injury during the second Test.
Led by skipper Dean Elgar's unbeaten 96, South Africa put up a fine show in the second Test to level the three-match Test series 1-1.
It's GO time here in Cape Town š š#TeamIndia all set and prepping for the series decider š š#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/RgPSPkNdk1
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 9, 2022
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ācentralisation,' 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 ā¹10 lakh to ā¹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ā¹2 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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