Iran hails nuclear talks in Europe 'constructive'
Tehran, July 7 : Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the ministerial meeting of the remaining parties to the international 2015 nuclear deal was "constructive".
"I believe that there is a political will to continue work and save this agreement but we must see what will happen to this issue in practice," he was quoted as saying by Press TV on Friday.
On Friday, a ministerial meeting on the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was held in Vienna, capital of Austria, Xinhua news agency reported.
The meeting was chaired by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and attended at the ministerial level by China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran.
Zarif said Iran received an economic package from the European countries two days ago but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said it is not enough.
On Thursday, Rouhani said the proposal package offered by the EU does not secure Iran's interests in the 2015 deal.
"Unfortunately, in the proposed package, there is no practical measure and specific strategy for cooperation," Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to IRNA news agency.
The package encompasses "a number of generalities about EU commitments which have also been issued before," he said.
"We expected a vivid plan from the three European countries" of Germany, France and Britain, two months after the US pullout of the JCPOA, the Iranian president noted.
Merkel confirmed that the EU package contains some principles and generalities, stressing that the talks should continue over the details.
"We all know that we want to stay in the nuclear deal, and we believe that we should keep talks in a quite atmosphere," she said.
In another telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, Rouhani also underlined the need to meet the demands of the Islamic republic by the parties to JCOPA.
The Iranian President highlighted the problems that Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA has created for the European companies involved in Iranian projects.
"We expect Europe to offer a clear operational programme with a specific timeframe in order to be able to compensate for the US pullout from the Iran nuclear deal," Rouhani said.
Rouhani has urged the European signatories to the JCPOA to take "practical and tangible measures" to protect Iranian interests after the US pullout.
On Friday, Zarif told reporters in Vienna that Europe must translate its commitment into action before the re-imposition of the US sanctions on Tehran.
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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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