65 people, including seven Indians, believed to be missing after landslide in Nepal: Media reports
Kathmandu (PTI): At least 65 people, including seven Indian nationals, are believed to be missing after two buses were swept away by a landslide in Nepal and pushed into a swollen river on Friday, according to media reports.
The two buses carrying 65 passengers went missing in the Trishuli River in the landslides at Simaltal area along the Narayanghat-Mugling road in Chitwan district, myRepublica news portal reported quoting officials.
Chief District Officer of Chitwan, Indradev Yadav, confirmed the incident.
According to Yadav, the Kathmandu-bound Angel bus and Ganpati Deluxe, en route to Gaur from the Capital, met with the accident at around 3:30 am.
Twenty-four people were onboard the bus travelling to Kathmandu and 41 on the bus travelling to Gaur, police said.
Three of the passengers on the Ganpati Deluxe bus managed to escape after jumping out of the vehicle, The Kathmandu Post reported.
Details have been received of 21 passengers travelling from Birgunj to Kathmandu on Angel Deluxe. According to the latest information, police have said that there were seven Indian nationals among the passengers on the bus, myRepublica reported.
Yadav said that the rescue workers have started clearing the landslide debris.
Expressing grief over the disappearance of the bus in the Trishuli River, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has issued directives for immediate search and rescue operations.
"I am deeply saddened by the loss of nearly five dozen passengers and the loss of property due to floods and landslides in different parts of the country when a bus was washed away by a landslide on the Narayangadh-Muglin road section. I direct all agencies of the government, including the home administration, to search and effectively rescue the passengers," Prachanda posted on X.
The prime minister also expressed grief over the loss of life and property due to floods and landslides in different parts of the country. He urged citizens to take necessary precautions.
Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel are heading towards the incident sites for rescue operations, Superintendent of Police Bhawesh Rimal said.
Debris from landslides at various places has obstructed traffic on the Narayanghat-Mugling road section.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, at least 11 people died in landslides and floods triggered by incessant rain in Kaski district on Thursday.
More than 1,800 people have lost their lives in a decade due to monsoon disasters. During this period, about 400 people went missing and more than 1,500 people were injured in the disaster.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.”
_vb_22.jpeg)
