NEW DELHI: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday stressed that the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adishtan Bill 2025 would neither impact the autonomy of institutions nor clip the powers of states in any way.
Briefing the media at Shastri Bhavan, Pradhan said, “There is no threat to institutional autonomy and even if the opposition has some concerns or misconceptions, they can be addressed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee.” The bill has been referred to a committee comprising 21 members of the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, he added.
In a first, the bill brings Institutions of National Importance (INIs) like the IIT and IIMs within its ambit. The bill, previously known as the Higher Education Council of India Bill, brings the functions performed by the present education regulators - the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) under the ambit of a single commission and three autonomous Councils.
A senior education official also briefed the media on queries about the funding of the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). “Presently, the Government of India disburses grants to the Central Universities through the UGC on a quarterly basis while the UGC in turn disburses them on a monthly basis to the universities,” he said.
The NEP 2020 had called for separating the functions of funding from a body which sets academic standards and regulation. “The disbursal of grants to the centrally funded HEIs shall be accordingly ensured through mechanisms devised by the Ministry of Education which will be similar to or better than the existing mechanisms,” he explained. Other major financial support to the HEIs like Junior Research Fellow, Senior Research Fellow and so on will continue through a similar mechanism.