Suryakumar Yadav named captain of ICC men's T20I Team of the Year, 3 more Indians feature
Dubai: Flamboyant middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav has been named the captain of the ICC men's T20I Team of the Year, which also includes three more Indians in opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, spinner Ravi Bishnoi and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh.
The ICC Team of the Year recognizes 11 outstanding individuals who have impressed throughout the year with the bat, ball, or their all-round exploits.
Suryakumar found a place in the side for a second straight year and is in the running for T20I men's Cricketer of the Year. The right-handed strokemaker from Mumbai had a solid 2023.
His first innings of just seven to start the year against Sri Lanka was a mere speed bump in another prolific year, as he made scores of 51 (36) and 112 not out (51) in the next two matches. Consistent scoring in 20s to 40s continued, before an innings of 83 (44) against the West Indies in Providence proved his class. He ended the series against the West Indies with a knock of 61 (45) in Florida.
Surya also became India captain with Rohit Sharma taking a break in the back end of the year.
He made half-centuries against Australia (80 off 42 balls) and South Africa (56 from 36 balls), before posting a 100 against the Proteas off just 56 balls in their final T20I of the year in Johannesburg.
Besides the Indian quartet, the 11-member team also has England's Phil Salt as Jaiswal's opening partner, West Indies' Nicholas Pooran as wicket-keeper, Mark Chapman of New Zealand, Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza, Uganda all-rounder Alpesh Ramjani, Iraland's Mark Adair and Richard Ngarava of Zimbabwe. Among women, off-spinner Deepti Sharma is the lone Indian to find a place in the 11-member side to be led by Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu. The women's side features four Australians -- Beth Mooney (wk), Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner and Megan Schutt, two from England in Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone, Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa, West Indies' Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr of New Zealand.
A mixture of youth and experience make up the ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year 2023 š
— ICC (@ICC) January 22, 2024
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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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