Months after the introduction of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, the primary objective of which is to separate grant-making powers from the higher education regulatory framework to minimize conflicts of interest, the education ministry appears to have changed its mind.
On Tuesday (March 17, 2026), she told a joint committee of Parliament examining the bill that a UGC-like grant disbursement mechanism would now be “conceived and adopted under” the proposed Shiksha Adhishthan, without offering any specific details.
This came despite opposition MPs in committee slamming the bill in its current form, calling it “skeletons”. They also questioned the government about the increasing centralization of regulation of higher education proposed in the bill, the relegation of state representation to be decided by the center and the future funding mechanism for public universities. The government has insisted the bill promotes “cooperative federalism”, arguing it offers more representation to state governments and institutions than the existing framework.
Introduced in December 2025, the bill seeks to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education and the National Council for Teacher Education as part of a review of India’s higher education regulatory structure guided by the National Education Policy by 2020.
Conflicts of interest
However, the Education Ministry has now said that the grant-making powers currently exercised by the UGC will actually come “under” the Shiksha Adhishthan.
Ministry officials told a panel headed by BJP MP D Purandeshwari that the UGC currently pays monthly grants to central universities from the funds released to it by the higher education ministry. It also releases funds under its own programs based on quality standards, accreditation status and NIRF assessment.
“Similar quality processes/systems will be designed and adopted under Shiksha Adhishthan,” the government told the panel.
However, in a bill tabled in Parliament last December, the Education Ministry said: “It is proposed to keep the funding of centrally funded colleges outside the purview of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan… to ensure that the Standards Board, the Board of Regulation and the Board of Accreditation fully exercise their specific domain functions.”
Officials said this was being done consciously to minimize conflicts of interest, adding that the ministry would propose a funding mechanism for universities in due course.
Undermining federalism
The joint committee, which held its fourth session on Tuesday, has 12 members from the BJP and 10 members from opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena (UBT).
During this session, MPs from the Congress, DMK and Trinamool Congress raised concerns about centralized control under the proposed structure, arguing that while there is state representation, it is the Center that selects state representatives. This would allow the Center to set up a “super regulator”, they said, warning that it was against the principles of federalism.
Skeletal Bill
Opposition MPs also argued that the proposed legislation was “skeletal” in nature and required most of the details to be worked out by the government in rule-making. Some members argued that this was akin to asking for the Bill to be passed without setting out the full extent of what the Government planned to do.
On funding, opposition members expressed concern that public higher education funding would become dependent on borrowing and lending, citing the continued implementation of the Higher Education Funding Agency structure. This will ultimately shift the financial burden onto students, they warned, making higher education available only to the wealthy.
In its submissions to the Joint Committee, the Ministry of Education argued that it places this proposed regulatory framework under Entry 66 of the Union List in the Constitution, the same provision that enabled it to introduce the UGC Act, 1956.
Published – 17 March 2026 22:50 IST
