New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has raised concerns regarding the new University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, pointing towards caste-based discrimination in Indian colleges, saying it was “entirely up to the UGC and the Ministry of Education” to bring resolution to this issue.The comments come at a time when ‘upper’ caste groups – also referred to as the ‘General’ category – across the country have been protesting against them.In a lengthy post on X, the Rajya Sabha member said, “The mothers of Payal Tadvi and Rohith Vemula – and the prompting of the Supreme Court – Modi Government and the UGC came with draft UGC Equity Regulations in February 2025.” This traces its origin to a petition filed in 2019 by Abeda Salim Tadvi and Radhika Vemula, the mothers of Payal Tadvi and Rohith Vemula, respectively, who questioned the implementation of the earlier equity rules. The two scholars had died by suicide after repeated caste-based discrimination.Also read: Explained: Why the New UGC Rules on Caste-Based Discrimination Have Sparked OutrageIn his post, Singh noted that in December 2025, the parliamentary standing committee on education issued a report that, among other things, reviewed these draft Equity Regulations and it was unanimously adopted by the committee and made some recommendations to strengthen the UGC’s draft Equity Regulations. Singh highlighted the recommendations in his post. These included: regulations on harassment of students and other stakeholders from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in its definition of caste-based harassment, in keeping with the Constitutional recognition of OBCs as Socially and Educational Backward Classes (SEBCs) under Articles 15(4) and 15(5) of the Indian Constitution; disability as an axis of discrimination; provisions for one mandatory woman member and a mandatory member each from the SC and ST communities; identifying instances of discrimination; a comprehensive list of discriminatory practices; and an annual public disclosure of caste-based discrimination cases, mandatory sensitisation programs for faculty and administrative staff, and adequate mental health support and legal aid in all higher education institutions.Note on UGC Equity Regulations● The mothers of Payal Tadvi and Rohith Vemula – and the prompting of the Supreme Court – Modi Government and the UGC came with draft UGC Equity Regulations in February 2025.● In December 2025, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education…— Digvijaya Singh (@digvijaya_28) January 28, 2026However, he highlighted, the January 2026 regulations, which apparently accepted the committee’s recommendations “did not accept the Parliamentary Committee’s recommendation” on two points – the mandatory woman and SC/ST members, and identifying instances of discrimination.Singh went on to say, “The UGC’s final Regulations also got rid of a separate provision (which existed in the draft Regulations) that penalised students for lodging false cases of discrimination. This was done by the UGC of its own accord – entirely independent of the Parliamentary Committee’s recommendations.”The protests against the regulations by General category students, he said, are largely concentrated on two issues – the removal of provisions that existed in the draft Regulations which penalised students for lodging false cases of discrimination, and listing only SC, ST, and OBC as categories that can face caste discrimination.“General category students believe that this may result in the filing of fake cases of caste bias against General category students and faculty. However, the decision to remove this provision was made by the UGC and had nothing to do with the Parliamentary Committee’s report,” he said, adding, that the decision to exclude General category students implicates them as the ones committing caste discrimination. “The decision to not include General category students was also made by the UGC. The Committee’s report made no comment on the inclusion of General category in the list of communities that can face caste discrimination,” he wrote.Singh said that clarifying what acts and instances count as discrimination would not just strengthen protections for students, but also dilute the possibility of the regulations being misused as an instrument to lodge fake cases. “This is what the Committee had asked the UGC to do (Recommendation D) but the UGC chose to ignore. It is now entirely up to the UGC and the Ministry of Education to bring resolution to this issue,” he said.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has stayed the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, calling the rules as “capable of misuse.”