AN UNFOUNDED BACKLASH TO UGC RULES FOR HARMONY

The new UGC rules promoting equity in education institutes were needed because the older ones were not working. Facts debunk the arguments of those agitating against them

- SUKHADEO THORAT

THE University Grants Commission’s new rules to promote equity in higher education institutions—a reform of its 2012 rules—has stirred controversy, mostly in north India.

This week, responding to a plea of those opposed, the Supreme Court has kept the new regulations in abeyance and retained the 2012 rules till a final decision is taken.

However, a careful look at the points raised by the agitators shows that the provisions they are opposed to do not justify their claims. Evidence does not support their arguments. To discuss the points, it is necessary to look back at the reasons for framing the 2012 regulations in the first place.

The origin of legal safeguards against casteand untouchability-related discrimination goes back to the enactment of the Untouchability (Offences) Act in 1955, renamed as the Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1979, and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Unfortunately, one major limitation of these laws is that they nearly ignore the discrimination in education institutions, except on admitting SC/ST candidates. Presumably, the reason is that those who enacted these Acts believed that, unlike other institutions, education campuses would be immune from caste discrimination, as they are managed by educated people. However, they did not realise the weak connection between literacy and discrimination, for it was learned Brahmanical scholars who authored the smritis that laid the moral principles underlying the caste system, which upheld inequality and social exclusion.