Professors, students protest against apex court stay on UGC equity rules

A section of professors and students questioned the Supreme Court’s recent decision to stay the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions rules at a protest organised by the Left-backed All India Students’ Association at Jantar Mantar on Saturday.

Notified in January, the rules sought to address all forms of discrimination, in particular caste-based, on campuses after years of activism, litigation, and death by suicide of students like Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi. The court had mandated the UGC to draw up these rules.

The protesting professors and students backed the rules, citing instances of caste discrimination on college campuses. They also questioned protests by some general category students against the rules for “leaving them out of the ambit of caste discrimination” and the call for a Bharat Bandh on Sunday.

“Has an upper caste person ever been attacked for drinking water and touching someone?” Dalit activist and lawyer Rajendra Pal Gautam said.

‘Took years for change’

It took years for Delhi University to start appointing teachers from the reserved categories, said former Delhi University Teachers’ Association president Nandita Narain. “Discouragement and the lack of representation are what led many [students] like Rohith [Vemula] to leave campuses or take their own lives,” she said.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aditi Mishra said “this gathering is the beginning of a movement for social justice”. Student activists from JNU said they will be conducting similar protests in the coming days.

CPI(ML) lawmaker Sudama Prasad expressed solidarity with the protesters.

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