Bengaluru: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has introduced new rules to tackle caste-based discrimination in higher education institutions. As per Regulation 3(c) of the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, “caste-based discrimination” means “discrimination only on the basis of caste or tribe against the members of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward classes”.These rules, notified on January 13, have sparked outrage from the ‘general category’ (those belonging to Savarna caste groups and not OBCs, SCs or Dalits). They claim that this “may harass general category students and deepen caste divisions”. Supporters of these new regulations say they don’t go far enough to protect marginalised groups.The key provisions include: a) institutions must set up an Equal Opportunity Centre (EOC), an Equity Committee, and Equity Squads to address discrimination; b) a 24-hour ‘Equity Helpline’ and Equity Ambassadors will be appointed; c) the UGC will monitor compliance, and non-compliant institutions risk losing funding and other benefits.Notably, the new rules have replaced the UGC’s 2012 regulations, expanding the definition of caste-based discrimination to include OBCs and removed a provision for punishing false complaints.According to the UGC, the objective of the new rules is to “eradicate discrimination only on the basis of religion, race, gender, place of birth, caste, or disability, particularly against the members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, socially and educationally backward classes, economically weaker sections, persons with disabilities, or any of them, and to promote full equity and inclusion amongst the stakeholders in higher education institutions”.The detailed provisionThe regulations establish a mandatory and enforceable framework for all higher education institutions including universities, colleges, and deemed universities, to receive and address complaints related to discrimination.The EOC will implement policies for disadvantaged groups, liaison with district authorities and the police, and provide legal help when needed. It’ll have five faculty members, with no reservations. If a college doesn’t have enough faculty, the affiliated university’s EOC will handle it.The Equity Committee, headed by the institution’s head, will have ten members, with half from the reserved categories (SC, ST, OBC, PwD, and women). They’ll meet within 24 hours of a complaint, submit findings in 15 days, and initiate action in 7 more days.Equity Squads will monitor campuses, especially vulnerable areas, prevent discrimination, and respond to complaints. Besides that institutions must also set up a 24-hour Equity Helpline and appoint Equity Ambassadors to promote equity.BackgroundThe new framework traces its origins 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. They had sought stronger mechanisms to address discrimination across campuses.In January 2025, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan underlined that such regulations should be more than symbolic. The draft rules were released for consultation in February 2025, and the court later permitted the UGC to finalise and notify them.On January 17, 2016, Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student and a PhD candidate at the University of Hyderabad, died by suicide with a banner of the Ambedkar Students Association and left behind a searing note talking of unfinished dreams and how he felt his “birth was his fatal accident”. Ironically, the university and the Union government have tried to focus not on the causes of the tragedy but on Rohith Vemula’s caste, claiming he was not a Dalit in the first place.Also read: Beyond Statistics, The Link Between Institutional Caste Discrimination and Student Suicides in IndiaHe along with four others were suspended after a complaint by the local unit of the Akhil Bharatatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP. His fellowship of Rs 25,000 was also suspended for raising “issues under the banner of the Ambedkar Students Association”.Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya took up the ABVP’s complaints against the Ambedkar Students Association and forwarded them to the then HRD minister Smriti Irani, who asked the university administration to look into them. Rohith Vemula’s death, largely considered as an “institutional death” initiated conversations about caste discrimination in institutions and even sparked protests across the country and brought attention to how Dalit students are marginalised.Similarly, Payal Tadvi, a 26-year-old postgraduate resident doctor at Nair Hospital in Mumbai, was subjected to a sustained humiliation and torture by her three caste Hindu seniors and finally, on May 22, she died by suicide. Payal Tadvi belonged to the tribal Muslim community of Tadvi Bhils.Following Payal Tadvi’s death, members of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and the Medico Friend Circle pointed out that there is “rampant ingrained casteism” in higher education institutions which must be acknowledged and addressed.Between 2019 and 2021, 98 students from Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi communities died by suicide in central universities and top institutions like IITs, NITs, IIMs, and IISERs, as per data provided in the Rajya Sabha in 2023. According to another estimate, out of 122 student suicides in top institutions and central universities between 2014 and 2021, according to government data, 68, or 55% were from backward communities – 24 were from SC communities, three belonged to the ST category, and 41 were from OBCs, as per a written response in the Lok Sabha in 2021.Caste-based discrimination complaints in universities and colleges jumped 118.4% from 2019-20 to 2023-24, according to UGC data submitted to a parliamentary panel and the Supreme Court. The UGC received 1,160 complaints from Equal Opportunity Cells and SC/ST Cells across 704 universities and 1,553 colleges during this period. The reported incidents rose from 173 in 2019-20 to 378 in 2023-24, the data showed.