3 months ago
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The Joint Committee of Parliament, constituted to analyse the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, which aims to subsume multiple higher acquisition regulators into a azygous “umbrella” Commission successful an NEP 2020-driven overhaul, is present expected to taxable its study by the extremity of the Monsoon Session this year.
The 31-member Committee was constituted this week by the Speaker aft the Government introduced the authorities past December, instantly moving that the Bill beryllium sent to a associated committee of Parliament. The Bill was introduced to objections from Opposition MPs, who argued that it represented “executive overreach”, subjected higher acquisition institutes to “pervasive enforcement control, graded autonomy, intrusive compliance requirements, terrible penalties, and closure powers”, and went against the principles of federalism.
Soon aft moving that the Bill beryllium examined by a Joint Committee, officials had said the authorities was expecting the study of the sheet by the extremity of the 2026 Budget Session.
On Thursday (February 12, 2026), however, the caput of the associated committee, D. Purandeswari (BJP), moved a question seeking an hold successful the clip to taxable its report, which was passed successful Lok Sabha. Ms. Purandeswari sought clip till the archetypal time of the past week of the Monsoon Session for the committee to taxable its report.
This came 2 days aft the Committee Branch of the Lok Sabha notified the names of the 31-member associated committee, with the Speaker appointing Ms. Purandeswari arsenic the panel’s Chairperson. One subordinate of the Committee said that the Secretariat for the sheet is yet to beryllium formed and that the enactment volition statesman erstwhile that is done.
The Committee has 20 members from Lok Sabha and 10 members from Rajya Sabha, with the Bharatiya Janata Party having the largest practice successful it (12 members). Those portion of the Committee see BJP MPs Sambit Patra, Tejasvi Surya, Anurag Singh Thakur, and Bansuri Swaraj, Congress members A. Bimol Akoijam, Varsha Gaikwad, and Education Standing Committee Chair Digvijaya Singh.
In addition, BJP state Janata Dal (United) and Opposition parties, the Samajwadi Party and All India Trinamool Congress, person 2 members each successful the committee, isolated from which determination is practice of Telugu Desam Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Indian Union Muslim League, Biju Janta Dal, some factions of Shiv Sena, and the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha. One of the Committee members, Meenakshi Jain, is simply a nominated Member of Rajya Sabha.
The government introduced the authorities successful December past year, providing for the constitution of a 12-member VBSA umbrella commission arsenic a regulatory body, nether which the regulatory, accreditation, and standards councils volition function. This regulatory operation volition subsume the functions of the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education, and the National Council for Teacher Education.
The Bill notably divorces the UGC’s grants-disbursal powerfulness from the regulatory assemblage that is being proposed, handing this backing powerfulness implicit to “mechanisms devised by the Ministry of Education”.
