Samson's blazing 55 propels Rajasthan Royals to 210/6 against SRH
Pune, Mar 29: Skipper Sanju Samson led from the front with a scintillating 27-ball 55 as Rajasthan Royals posted an imposing 210 for six against Sunrisers Hydrabad in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.
Samson and Devdutt Padikkal (41 off 29 balls; 4x4; 6x2) added 73 runs for the third wicket off 41 balls, before Shimron Hetmyer used his brute power to clobber 32 in only 13 deliveries and take RR past 200.
Samson's six-hitting prowess was on display as he struck five maximums and three boundaries, sparing no bowler during his entertaining stay in the middle.
Later Hetymar smashed three sixes.
Put into bat, Royals opener Jos Buttler, on zero, survived courtesy a no ball. Buttler (35) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (20) then gave the side a flying start, stitching a 58-run stand to lay the foundation for a big total.
Buttler was brutal on Umran Malik, hammering him for two fours and two maximums in the fourth over, as RR collected 21 runs.
The two openers then struck a six each off Washington Sundar (0/47) in the next over as RR raced to 52 for no loss after five overs.
Jaiswal however perished in the seventh over, holing out to Aiden Markram off Romario Shepherd. While Buttler, who hit three fours and as many sixes, was dismissed at the start of the ninth over as RR slipped to 75 for two.
Showing intent straightaway, Samson started with a four and a six over long-off and hit another maximum over fine-leg, as he took on the SRH attack with gusto.
While Samson found the fence at will, Padikkal too got into the groove and began attacking in the 12th over when he pulled T Natarajan for a maximum.
Samson was again brutal on Sundar, striking him for two successive sixes in the 16th over as RR marched on.
SRH removed Paddikkal and Samson in quick succession, but a lot of damage had been done by then, before Hetmyer compounded the bowling team's woes with his massive hits as RR scored 123 runs in the back 10.
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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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