BR Shetty-led BRS Ventures enters Afghanistan
Takes over two hospitals, establishes pharmaceutical manufacturing unit
Bengaluru: Ministry of Public Health, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and BRS Ventures, UAE today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to take over two hospitals and establish a pharmaceutical manufacturing unit in Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
The MoU was signed in the presence of H.E. Ashraf Ghani, the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. For enhancement of the public healthcare infrastructure in Kabul, BRS Ventures will operate and manage Sheikh Zayed Hospital (SZ Hospital) and Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital (WAK Hospital) under the public private partnership model. The hospitals will be a part of BRS Ventures healthcare brand called ‘BR Life’. The MoU will be executed in 2 phases. Operations & Management of SZ Hospital in Phase 1 and WAK Hospital in Phase 2.
SZ Hospital is an 82-bed hospital located in the heart of Kabul. WAK Hospital is a 210-bed super specialty hospital catering to over 72,000 patients annually. BRS Ventures will be responsible for the complete refurbishment, rebranding of the hospitals. The activities will commence operations within the next following months. The overhaul of SZ Hospital is an auspicious moment for BRS Ventures marking the company’s homage to the year round centenary celebrations of Sheikh Zayed as the “Year of Zayed” in UAE.
With a mission to serve the community Dr. B R Shetty started BR Life in India. BRS Ventures-led BR Life includes hospitals in India and the sub-continent. SUT Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram was the first BR Life hospital in India that was established in 2013. Sree Narayana Hospital in Raipur, SSNMC Super Specialty Hospital Bangalore, Mother & Child Hospital in Udupi, Kalinga Hospital in Bhubaneswar and The Grande International Hospital in Nepal are the other hospitals under the BR Life umbrella.
Dr. B. R. Shetty, Founder and Chairman of BRS Ventures said, “I am thrilled that we have an opportunity to invest in Afghanistan. My motto in life has always been to serve mankind. I am deeply grateful to H.E. Ashraf Ghani, the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for trusting us and giving us an opportunity to improve the healthcare facilities in the country.”
H.E. Dr. Ferozuddin Feroz, Ministry of Public Health, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan said, “I am delighted to welcome BRS Ventures into Afghanistan. Dr. Shetty and his team have an excellent track record in the healthcare sector through their New Medical Centre (NMC) Hospitals, BR Life Hospitals and Neopharma – pharmaceutical manufacturing company. This is a significant milestone in the healthcare sector in Afghanistan.”
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)
