Nepal's President appeals for peace, says making efforts to find solution to current crisis
Kathmandu (PTI): Nepal's President Ramchandra Paudel Thursday appealed to all sides to cooperate in maintaining peace and said he was making efforts to find a solution to the current political situation within the constitutional framework.
It is the first time the president spoke about the current turmoil. He was not seen in public after the Gen Z agitating groups burnt the president's office and his private residence on Tuesday.
Paudel, who is currently under military protection, also urged people and all stakeholders to show patience and help maintain law and order in this critical situation.
"I am making every effort to protect democracy and to find a way out from the present political impasse within the constitutional framework while at the same time maintaining law and order,” said President Paudel.
He called all the sides to show trust in his efforts to find a solution to the problem at the earliest.
"I appeal to all parties to be confident that a solution to the problem is being sought as soon as possible to address the demands of the agitating citizens and to cooperate in maintaining peace and order in the country with restraint," he added.
Many people were expecting that the president would publicly appear and address the nation after the incident.
Earlier, President Paudel and Army Chief Ashok Raj Sigdel met with the
representatives of the protesting 'Gen Z' group at the army headquarters in Bhadrakali to pick a leader to run an interim government, sources said.
Former chief justice Sushila Karki, Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah and two others were among those being considered by the protesting Gen Z group to lead the interim government, they added.
The interim leader will replace Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, who resigned on Tuesday following a violent student-led agitation.
An Army spokesperson confirmed that discussions are ongoing with various stakeholders. He, however, did not provide any names.
“We are holding rounds of talks with different stakeholders. The talks are mainly focused on finding a way out from the current stalemate and at the same time maintaining law and order situation in the country,” an Army spokesperson said.
A similar meeting was held on Wednesday, but it yielded no results.
“The new executive head will be the one who will conduct fresh elections within a specified time frame,” the sources added.
Apart from Karki and Shah, the other two names under consideration are the former CEO of Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising and Mayor of Dharan Harka Sampang.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis as Oli resigned on Tuesday in the face of massive protests, prompting the Nepal Army to take over the law and order situation.
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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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