Improve It: Editorial on Concerns over UGC’s Stipulations on Caste Discrimination in Educational Institutions
06 March 2025 | The Telegraph
India’s tryst with the annihilation of caste remains unfulfilled. It has taken nine years since the suicide of the Dalit scholar, Rohith Vemula, for his mother’s plea to the Supreme Court that higher educational institutions act against caste discrimination to begin bearing fruit. The University Grants Commission has finally notified the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2025. This is an encouraging step. It is also necessary as recently, an apex court bench was informed that 18 students had committed suicide in Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management in the past 14 months. Yet, there is concern with the UGC’s stipulations. For instance, there are allegations that the rules dilute or make certain existing provisions vague. Discrimination is defined as “any unfair, differential, or biased treatment or any such act”. The 2012 regulations, on the other hand, had included the words, “limitation or preference”. This is important because casteist preference in HEIs often manifests in the form of anti-reservation sentiments that can affect students’ scores and limit their opportunities….