Women’s WC: Richa Ghosh’s impeccable knock carries India to 251 against SA
Visakhapatnam (PTI): Richa Ghosh made a vibrant 94 after another top-order malfunction as India recovered to post a competitive 251 against South Africa in the Women’s World Cup match here on Thursday.
Ghosh’s 77-ball innings (11x4, 4x6) showed her teammates how to make use of a rather easy-paced pitch with her seventh ODI fifty.
The ACA-VDCA Stadium pitch, perhaps, was the best among the three decks — including Guwahati and Colombo — India have batted on yet but they failed to exploit it fully after being asked to bat.
But the beginning was bright as openers Pratika Rawal (37) and Smriti Mandhana (23) added 55 runs in 10.2 overs.
Rawal engaged in some smooth strokeplay, and a flowing cover drive off pacer Marizanne Kapp was the standout shot in her innings.
But Mandhana never looked comfortable out there. She tried to break the shackles with a towering straight six off pacer Ayabonga Khaka but perished soon to left-arm spinner Noku Mlaba.
Rawal and Harleen Deol (13) took India to 83 for one, and the latter's dismissal sparked a collapse, as the hosts lost five wickets for just 19 runs.
South African bowlers’ nagging line, and a hint of turn might have played a part in it, but the Indian batters too were guilty for trying to force the pace before settling in.
Deol fell to a peach by Mlaba as the ball squared her up with its outward turn, but Rawal tried to push pacer Tumi Sekhkhune to leg-side but resulted only a leading edge catch to Tazmin Brits.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur looked to drive spinner Chloe Tryon but another leading edge ended in the hands of Kapp inside the circle.
Jemimah Rodrigues missed the sweep against Tryon and fell leg before and Deepti Sharma was caught down the leg side as India slipped to 102 for six, and were in need of a steadying alliance.
It came in the form of a 51-run stand between Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur (13) as India inched past the 150-run mark.
Ghosh was impressive in pacing the innings, using her power judiciously as a couple of slog-swept sixes gave her the desired momentum.
Ghosh, who was dropped on 76 and 84, fetched her fifty in 53 balls, and thereafter she opened up to put the SA bowlers to the sword as 44 runs came in 24 balls.
Kaur fell trying to accelerate the pace, but Ghosh found another able and stable ally in Sneh Rana (33) as they realised 88 runs off 53 balls for the eighth wicket. Ghosh fell in the last over but she had done her job by then.
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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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