Why UGC Equity Bill 2026 Is a Long-Overdue Answer to Campus Discrimination

UGC’s equity bill, born from campus tragedies and resistance, is a long-overdue challenge to entrenched caste and racial discrimination in higher education.

Written by: Utpola Das

Two mothers on a quest for justice, approached the Apex Court with hope and determination after losing their children to systemic ostracization and along with them rallied the progressive sections, organizations and parties of the society. Their struggle was not only for their own children but to ensure that no other child is forced to endure the same inhuman and degrading conditions within spaces meant for learning.

The stories of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi are stories of resilience, of mothers who refused to surrender, of those whose echoes are yet to reach us, combating an age-old system of oppression that today is tightening its grip under the Manuvadi regime. Ten years after Vemula’s death and seven years after Tadvi’s, a long-overdue legislative response finally emerged. On 13 January 2026, the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education) Regulations Bill, 2026 was introduced with the aim of addressing discrimination in higher education institutions (HEIs) on the basis of caste, race, gender, place of birth, or disability.

The Bill seeks to replace the existing 2012 UGC regulations with stringent and legally enforceable mechanisms to combat discrimination. The Bill’s central framework mandates the formation of an Equal Opportunity Centre (EOC) in Higher Educational Institutes (HEI) as a formal grievance redressal mechanism, introduced against the backdrop of a reported 118% rise in caste-based discrimination cases. Out of 58,643 HEIs across India only 3,522 have established EOCs or ST/SC cells as per an affidavit filed by the UGC to the Supreme Court. This reaffirms the need to implement the Bill altering the previous regulations of 2012 opening avenues to strict redressal mechanisms. Punitive measures for non-compliance alongwith bi annual reporting will enhance accountability which was absent in the previous regulations.

At this critical juncture, protests have erupted demanding the rollback of the Bill, as tensions are brewing among “Savarna” rights activists, fearing that the law, if enacted, could lead to filing of false cases under the pretext of discrimination. These anxieties, ironically, draw its material presence from the deep-rooted system of exploitation in the country where students and youths are routinely attacked or even killed for their appearance, identity, gender or place of origin. Atrocities against students from the Northeast have long been brushed under the carpet. The recent death of Anjel Chakma stands as a stark reminder, as does the brutal assault on Hirok Jyoti Das just a night before Uruka (Magh Bihu Eve) on the exact date when this Bill was brought. The Bezbaruah Committee, after the brutal murder of Nido Tania in 2014, recommended the formation of a new law to tackle the incidents of racial nature. The Bill is more inclusive in contrast to the arguments of the petitioners to strike it down as it brings the cases of racial discrimination within its ambit.

The list of racial and caste based discrimination is far from exhaustive, yet the anxieties of right-wing “Savarna” activists, who may even go to the extent of burning effigies of their own ruling lords subverting lordship over ideology, remains unsettled. As it was held, “the mere possibility of misuse or abuse of a legislative provision does not, by itself, render the provision unconstitutional” in Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India, potential abuse merely cannot form a ground to strike down the Bill. 

The Constitution of India permits creating laws recognizing substantive equality and claims based on banters or feelings of exclusion cannot be a coherent jurisprudential basis. Fear of “reverse discrimination” is a subjective perception unlike caste or gender discrimination that has been historically entrenched, documented and thus recognized. Thus, the Constitution permits affirmative measures for the marginalized sections. Formal equality cannot be equated to substantive equality making “reverse discrimination” only a perceived threat. The seeds of hatred, division and exploitation were sown long ago, but they are now being actively fertilized through the ruling party’s strategic use of structural apparatuses to reinstate “Savarna” dominance and maintain ideological hegemony. Tragically, the constitutional promises of equality and justice have failed to translate meaningfully into university campuses, even after more than eight decades of independence.

A relentless history of struggle, marked by countless deaths, ostracization and brutal assaults, makes the enforcement of this Bill imperative. All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) reports reveal that Central Universities, IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other premier institutions together have 4,889 vacant teaching positions reserved for marginalized categories. The practice of declaring candidates “Not Found Suitable” (NFS) has become a new normal, even when qualified applicants are available and ad hoc faculty continue to be employed.

Assam, too, reflects this structural neglect, with 522 vacant positions across its colleges and universities. That said, the Bill is not without flaws. The constitution of the Equal Opportunity Centre raises serious concerns. Allowing the Head of the Institution to serve as the ex-officio chairperson [Section 6(1)(i)] is deeply problematic given the current political disposition of Vice-Chancellors and Principals in HEIs. Furthermore, the nomination rather than election of student representatives [Section 6(1)(v)] undermines the democratic spirit of the legislation, rendering it potentially ineffective. The Bill also suffers from ambiguities in definitions, penal provisions and procedural mechanisms, all of which demand immediate and careful revision. Yet, despite these shortcomings, the very arguments advanced by right-wing “Savarna” rights activists serve to reaffirm the necessity of this Bill.

In a system built on entrenched hierarchies and normalized exclusion, any attempt to enforce accountability will inevitably provoke resistance. That resistance, rather than discrediting the Bill, exposes precisely why such legislation is indispensable today. Backlash and resistance whenever policies or legislation were brought to address substantive equality are not new sights. Similar protests erupted against the Mandal Commission recommendations in 1990 and while implementing provisions for reservation in 2006. What we call “entrenched hierarchies” is the deep-rooted caste system, essentially stemming from a substructure that rigidified itself with time and empowered the so-called upper castes to imply “meritocracy” rhetoric on its own terms over the course of time. Statistically speaking, meritocracy is a myth when more than half the population succumbs to socio-economic disparities. Although long overdue, the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education) Regulations Bill, 2026, is crucial to protecting young people from the effects of generational trauma.