The government's bold initiative with the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, deserves a resounding welcome. We are already late, decades late, in fine-tuning our higher education to meet contemporary needs and global challenges. This Bill, introduced in Lok Sabha on December 15, signals a long-overdue structural overhaul. It dares to dismantle the frozen regulatory maze that has choked innovation and excellence for far too long.

Will Indian higher education finally rise to become truly ‘higher’, or remain shackled by bureaucratic inertia, political patronage, and vested interests? That is the stark question. Everything else is mere noise. Read in Hindi: उच्च शिक्षा पर जमी बर्फ को पिघलाएगा नया शिक्षा अधिष्ठान विधेयक...!

Once, our universities were vibrant temples of learning, laboratories humming with ideas, classrooms alive with debate, campuses challenging the world. Today, many resemble museums of decay: buried under piles of files, permissions, recommendations, and fear. The ‘system’ has overshadowed education itself.

The numbers expose the grim reality. India boasts over 1,100 universities, more than 50,000 colleges, and around 40 million students, one of the world's largest higher education systems. Yet, quality lags disastrously. Only a handful of institutions crack the top 200 in global rankings like QS or Times Higher Education.

Leadership failures lie at the core. Vice-Chancellors are often selected not for scholarly merit but political loyalty. Proximity to power trumps academic brilliance. Campuses turn into extensions of political offices rather than centres of knowledge. Corruption allegations, irregular appointments, and financial scandals have tainted dozens in recent years. Dissent is stifled; merit sits on the sidelines.

Curricula remain fossilised, many syllabi unchanged for 20-30 years. Teaching methods cling to outdated chalk-and-talk. Research often reduces to ritualistic paper-pushing: copy, paste, and publish. Millions graduate annually with degrees but without employable skills. Industry reports 40-50 per cent of graduates as unready for jobs. Frustration mounts among youth, yet accountability evaporates in bureaucratic fog.

Regulation has strangled rather than supported. UGC, AICTE, and NCTE operate in silos, with overlapping rules, turf wars, and endless approvals. Launching a new course or institution? Prepare for years of file-shuffling. Innovation dies waiting for signatures. State universities, educating most students, suffer the worst: chronic faculty shortages, 30-40 per cent vacancies, crumbling infrastructure, outdated libraries, and labs that ‘perform’ only during inspections.

Successive governments spotted the rot but tiptoed around it, fearing backlash from unions, politicians, or entrenched networks. Reforms came in whispers, implemented in drips. The decay deepened.

Now arrives the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, a bold disruption aligned with NEP 2020's vision. It repeals the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE Acts, creating one apex body: the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan. Under it, three specialised councils handle Regulation (enforcement and compliance), Accreditation (quality assurance), and Standards (academic benchmarks).

In plain terms: one unified framework, clear roles, technology-driven single-window approvals, public disclosures for transparency, and real penalties, from fines to shutdowns, for violations. The aim? Slash red tape, boost institutional autonomy for high-performers, promote multidisciplinary education, foster relevant research, and prepare youth for a global knowledge economy.

This is no minor tweak; it's structural surgery after decades of cosmetic patches. It promises to link education directly to Viksit Bharat by 2047: multidisciplinary universities, flexible curricula, innovation hubs, and student-centric reforms like robust grievance mechanisms.

Predictably, opposition erupts. States cry centralisation, fearing erosion of their concurrent-list rights. Universities worry about lost autonomy. Critics argue that one-size-fits-all ignores regional diversity—from Kerala's needs to Bastar's or Ladakh's.

These concerns hold some truth. Education demands sensitivity to local contexts. Yet, honesty compels us to admit: many states abused autonomy, turning it into political fiefdoms. Vice-Chancellor posts became bargaining chips. Campuses hosted ideological battles, not intellectual ones. Academic freedom suffered first. Resistance rings loudest where political grip on education is tightest. The Bill threatens those cosy networks, that's why the noise.

Wisely, the government referred it to a Joint Parliamentary Committee almost immediately. This pause allows refinement: building federal safeguards, balancing oversight with genuine autonomy, addressing regional nuances without excusing decay.

The Bill could go bolder. Professional silos like medicine and law remain exempt, fair for now, but eventual integration is needed for true unity. Half-measures risk new complications.

India's youth cannot wait longer. Our demographic dividend demands education that equips them for AI, sustainability, and global competition, not outdated exams and irrelevant syllabi. They need inspiring teachers, questioning campuses, and skills that open doors worldwide.

Imperfect as it is, this Bill radiates intent. For the first time in generations, a government dares to make major reform over dithering. Success hinges on execution: transparency over control, balance over bulldozing, political will over patronage.

Indian higher education stands at a crossroads. One path leads to global excellence and relevance. The other to comfortable stagnation. We are late, but not too late. Embrace this leap. History forgives no further delay.