Govt fails to introduce foreign varsities Bill

With the Left allies refusing to relent on their opposition to the entry of foreign universities in the country, the UPA government chose not to introduce the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations, Maintenance of Quality and Prevention of Commercialisation) Bill, 2007, which was listed in the Rajya Sabha today.

As there was no change in the Left's long-held stance, it came as surprise to even senior Left leaders as to why the government put the Bill in today's list of business in the Upper House.

Asked why the Bill was not introduced today, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said that it was supposed to be taken up by Parliament on Thursday. It is for the parliamentary affairs ministry to explain why it was not done, he told reporters.

On the other hand, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi skirted queries whether the Left parties had managed to stall the Bill. "You will see when it happens but nothing has been decided yet," he told Business Standard.

Left sources asserted that the Bill allowing entry of foreign universities was set to meet the same fate as suffered by other contentious legislations, especially the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill that had figured in the list of business in the Lok Sabha for three consecutive days last year before being dropped due to Left's continuous opposition.