Lower House passes bill to regulate Ayush practitioners

The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a bill that makes registration compulsory for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Naturopathy and Siddha (Ayush) practitioners.

The Karnataka Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Siddha, Unani and Yoga Practitioners Registration and Medical Practitioners Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to regulate these practitioners. Registered practitioners will be issued an  ID card, which should be compulsorily displayed at their clinics.

According to the provisions of the bill, unregistered practitioners will be punished with a fine that may extend to Rs 20,000 for the first offence and Rs 2 lakh fine and imprisonment of one year for the second offence and a fine of Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment for three years for the subsequent offence.

The Assembly also passed a bill that proposes to expand the authority of the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to give administrative approval for projects up to Rs 10 crore without bringing it before the Cabinet.

Hitherto, the BWSSB had the authority to clear projects up to Rs 1 crore.
The House passed a bill, which provides for allowing tapping of neera, the sweet sap from coconut trees. The Karnataka Excise (amendment) Bill, 2016 also provide for promoting byproducts of neera such as palm jaggery and palm sugar to help farmers increase their revenue.

The Assembly passed the Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation during Emergency situations) Bill, 2016 that seeks to provide protection to ‘Good Samaritans’ and medical professionals who help accident victims from civil and criminal liabilities.

In the Legislative Council, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy said  the government is mulling over bringing in Karnataka Universities Comprehensive Act in the next legislature session to ensure uniformity in administration and monitoring of the varsities and colleges in the state.

During a discussion on a bill that proposes to change the name of Karnataka State Women’s University after 12th century social reformer Akkamahadevi, the minister said the government intends in bringing a comprehensive legislation for all the state universities. A committee headed by former Vice Chancellor  of Bangalore University N R Shetty has submitted its report in this regard.

Rayareddy said Maharani College in Bengaluru could not be brought under the Women's University as the process of declaring the college as cluster university was under process. A regional centre for the  women’s university would be set up in Mandya, he added.