NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary said there were vested interests in the education sector that did not want all sections of society to have equal access. He was responding to the recent University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations aimed at addressing caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions (HEIs).
The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, announced on January 13, included Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in their provisions and removed penalties proposed in the original draft for filing false cases.
The changes have triggered controversy, with critics alleging discrimination against students from the general category.
Asked to comment on the criticism, Chaudhary told TNIE that social justice would always have a place in democratic India.
“In democracy, we always have room for criticism. The government is cognisant even of criticism and will take it into account. Having said that, there are always vested interests in the space of education. They don’t want access and equity for everyone,” he said.
Equality was the underpinning philosophy of the National Education Policy, Chaudhary added.
Several senior educationists, requesting anonymity, called for the regulations to be rolled back.
One educationist said, “Creating Mobile Equal Opportunity Squads comprising students and young professors and empowering them to carry out sudden checks inside colleges is ridiculous and creates animosity. A HEI should be a place of harmony and bonding for students. The same applies to the idea of Equity Ambassadors inside hostels. When people live together, there is all kinds of banter and camaraderie. You never know what will be misunderstood, and it will make students wary of each other. General category students will feel lost and left out, and it will impact relationships.”
Another senior educationist said, “These rules need to be withdrawn or amended immediately as they create divisions and mistrust among students.”
The new regulations define caste-based discrimination as “discrimination only on the basis of caste or tribe against the members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).”
The inclusion of OBCs, absent from the draft released a year ago, has drawn attention. The exclusion of the general category, which critics say could also face caste-based discrimination, has fuelled the controversy.
The new rules replace the 2012 anti-discrimination regulations for HEIs and propose the creation of Equal Opportunity Centres, Mobile Squads and Equity Ambassadors in hostels.