The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday passed the Madhya Pradesh Krishi-Upaj (Sanshodhan) Vidheyak, 2015, and the Madhya Pradesh Niji Vishwavidyala (Sthapna evam Sanchalan) Diwitiya Sanshodan Vidheyak, 2015.
Replying to a discussion on the Madhya Pradesh Krishi-Upaj (Sanshodhan) Vidheyak, Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development Minister Gourishankar Chaturbhuj Bisen said the amendment proposed that warehouses would not be required to obtain license for storing agriculture produce.
Participating in the discussion, Congress members Bala Bachchan, Govind Singh, Hardeep Singh Dang and Ramniwas Rawat expressed concerns that abolishing the criteria would cause loss of mandi fee and promote corruption as in the case of Sanwariya Group where the payment of mandi fee was evaded by the Group by forming bogus companies.
However, the Minister allayed their concerns stating that the collection was done in accordance of purchases. Therefore, the collection of mandi fee would not be affected. Following the Ministers reply, the Bill was passed by voice vote.
The House also unanimously passed the Madhya Pradesh Niji Vishwavidyala (Sthapna evam Sanchalan) Diwitiya Sanshodan Vidheyak, which envisages the establishment of two private universities — Dr APJ Abdul Kalam University and the Malwanchal University in Indore.
Replying to a discussion on the amendment bill, Higher Education Minister Umashankar Gupta said the Government is equally concerned as the Opposition that private universities, which are being allowed to be set up for promoting education, does not become institutes for selling degrees.
He said a private university has not only to comply with the norms put in place by the Government but also to the norms of the University Grants Commission. Umashankar Gupta said private universities are barred from opening centres until five years of their establishment.
The Minister said the Government was also developing software that would allow it to monitor day-to-day activities of these universities without interfering in their functioning.
Congress member Mukesh Nayak took part in the discussion. Meanwhile, the land Revenue Code (Amendment) Bill, 2015, was not taken up for discussion as Revenue Minister Rampal Singh proposed that certain more amendments need to be incorporated and suggested that the discussion be taken up later.