UGC Protest Live: Supreme Court Puts UGC's Equity Regulations on Hold
Published on: Jan. 29, 2026, 1:13 p.m. | Source: Times Now
In university settings, caste-based discrimination has doubled between 2019 and 2025. To combat this, the Indian government recently introduced the Promotion of Equity Regulations through the University Grants Commission (UGC) to protect disadvantaged communities. While the government has upheld its stance on protecting victims, objectors, including the Savarna Sena, are staging demonstrations outside the UGC’s New Delhi office, demanding the revocation of the new regulations. They argue that the regulations are unfair and may be misused against general category students.While a debate on whether the bill is preventive or aggravating is ongoing, some BJP ministers and civil servants have resigned from their posts over concerns about its misuse, fear of backlash from the general category, ambiguity around the regulations, and related issues.What’s New?A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court against the UGC’s Promotion of Equity Regulations for excluding unreserved categories.The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has embraced the regulations, calling them a “delayed but welcome step.”Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati has supported the regulations while labelling the rollback demands as “completely unjustified.”Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured that the regulations will not be misused.“Rollback UGC” and “UGC Black Law” are trending on the microblogging site X., Education News, Times Now
