University education in peril

Thanks to laws made by Parliament and the manner in which the UGC has worked the University Grants Commission Act, 1956.

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The Act was enacted to "make provision for the co-ordination and determination of standards in Universities". Section 12 authorized UGC to allocate and disburse "grants" to universities for the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in universities. In 1984, Section 12A was inserted and Section 14 was amended, which vastly expanded the powers of UGC. The power of the purse has enabled the UGC to intrude into every function of universities. Using these powers, 'regulations' have been made by UGC that have practically obliterated the autonomy of a university.

UGC is 'big chief'
The control of the UGC (and through the UGC of an ideologically-biased central government) extends to appointments of teachers, design of curriculum, areas of research, design and conduct of examinations, etc. Look at some of UGC's intrusive regulations:

Regulations on qualifications and appointment of all teachers and other academic staff;
the National Eligibility Test (NET);
the National Eligibility and Entrance Examination (NEET);
the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE);
the Common University Entrance Test (CUET);