Goa, Dec. 13 -- The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a landmark bill to overhaul India's higher education regulatory framework by replacing multiple statutory bodies with a single unified regulator, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP).

The proposed legislation, earlier known as the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, has now been renamed the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill. Once enacted, it will subsume the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), streamlining oversight across the higher education sector.

At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees tech...