UGC's Promotion of Equity Regulations, 2026

The recent uproar against the UGC’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, by socially dominant sections reinforces B.R. Ambedkar’s view of the caste system. He described it as featuring an “ascending order of reverence and a descending order of contempt.”

Purpose of the Regulations

• The regulations aim to provide institutional remedies to students from the SC, ST, OBC categories, women, and persons with disabilities.
• Allows these students to file complaints if they face discrimination based on their identities.
• Marks a significant departure from previous guidelines by requiring monitoring committees and introducing a non-compliance clause.

Context and Reaction

• Based on data showing a more than 100% rise in complaints of caste-based discrimination in higher education over five years.
• The enforceability of these regulations has unsettled entrenched interests, reflecting resistance to constitutional values of justice and equality.

Historical Context

• Swami Vivekananda and K.R. Narayanan faced caste-based prejudice despite their achievements.
• Recent incidents, such as an attack on former Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, reveal ongoing caste-based contempt.

Criticism of Hindutva

• The agitation against the regulations highlights Hindutva's failure as a unifying force, as it perpetuates the caste hierarchy.
• Ambedkar viewed caste as a system of graded inequality and argued that Hindutva sustains these inequalities.

Political Implications

• Criticism of the UGC for ignoring Parliamentary recommendations for wider consultation and clearer safeguards.
• Hindutva ideology is exposed as fostering inequality within Hindu society and between religious communities.
• Ambedkar argued that caste is anti-national and resisting measures to eliminate caste opposes the constitutional vision of India.

The writer is the general secretary of the Communist Party of India.