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Annihilating caste in universities and colleges

BySukhadeo Thorat
Jan 18, 2025 08:07 PM IST

Tweak the 2012 Promotion of Equity Regulation to expand its jurisdiction, and ensure better enforcement of its existing provisions

After suicides by some Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in All Indian Institutes of Medical Sciences, the Union health ministry set up a committee that I led, which brought to light shocking evidence of discrimination faced by the SC/ST students. Given continued cases of suicides in higher educational institutions, Kapil Sibal, the then education minister, asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to frame regulations against such discrimination. The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations came into existence on December 17, 2012. The Regulations listed close to 20 behaviour patterns often exhibited by upper caste students, teachers, and staff that were discriminatory; these include biased treatment in admissions, evaluation, fellowships, harassment, victimisation, segregation, isolation, exclusion, and ragging, among others. The Equity Regulations also directed universities to set up an Equal Opportunity Cell and appoint an anti-discrimination officer.

The fact that suicides in higher education institutes continue despite the 2012 Regulations indicates there is a need to treat caste discrimination as a criminal act. Only then can it be brought under check. (Photo by Ravi Choudhary/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times) PREMIUM
The fact that suicides in higher education institutes continue despite the 2012 Regulations indicates there is a need to treat caste discrimination as a criminal act. Only then can it be brought under check. (Photo by Ravi Choudhary/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

A petition was filed by the mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi before the Supreme Court in 2019, seeking guidelines to prevent caste discrimination in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). The petition pointed out that the 2012 Regulation has, by and large, remained ill-enforced. Thereafter, UGC formed a committee to review the existing regulations in 2023. In response to this, the Supreme Court, in a hearing dated January 3, 2025, directed UGC to notify the new Regulation, and to submit the data from all universities with regard to the setting up of the Equal Opportunity Cells, total complaints received under the 2012 Regulations and action taken before the next hearing on February 28, 2025.

While this is a positive initiative by the Supreme Court (seeking the status of implementation), it raises some questions about the action taken by UGC. What reforms to the 2012 Regulation UGC has proposed is not clear. The cursivity arises because the past record of UGC has not been encouraging. It has created some confusion by recommending Equal Opportunity “Centres” to the colleges rather than “Cells” as provided under the 2012 Regulations. Apart from the core functions, the implementation of reservations for teaching and non-teaching staff positions has been added to the remit of the Equal Opportunity Cell. Bear in mind, this task had been assigned to the SC/ST Cells of universities, as far back as in the mid-1970s, by the department of personnel and training. It should be clear to UGC that the Equal Opportunity Cell’s responsibility is exclusively confined to the affairs of the students and not the reservation of teachers and staff. In the confusion resulting from UGC’s 2023 review, some HEIs have assigned the work of the Equal Opportunity Cell to the SC/ST Cell.

However, the concern is about the changes contemplated by UGC to the 2012 Regulation. Despite the 2012 Regulations, cases of suicide amongst marginalised students have not abated. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed Lok Sabha that as many as 122 students at India’s top HEIs committed suicide between 2014 and 2021, 24 of whom belonged to SC communities, 41 to the Other Backward Classes (OBC), three to STs, and three to the minority communities.

Subhas Sarkar, minister of State for education, informed the Rajya Sabha that six SC and one ST students from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) died by suicide between 2018 and 2023. In central universities, seven SC students died by suicide during 2017-2021. We do not know the exact reason for these suicides. Was the non-implementation of the 2012 Regulations a reason? However, the experience of the past when it comes to ragging indicates that mere regulations did not work to stop ragging. Ragging could only be brought under control after it was made a criminal act. This has resulted in the near elimination of ragging, a story of success for UGC and the ministry of education. Suicides due to caste discrimination are a more serious problem than ragging. The fact that suicides continue despite the 2012 Regulation indicates there is a need to treat caste discrimination as a criminal act. Only then can it be brought under check. The Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989 treats caste discrimination as a criminal act. The same is the case with the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955, earlier known as the Untouchability (Offences) Act.

Unfortunately, none of these laws include discrimination in educational institutions because the policymakers were under the illusion that they were immune from caste discrimination. UGC, therefore, should reform the 2012 Regulations to make caste discrimination a criminal act. In fact, the students at Central University, Hyderabad had withdrawn their protest-shutdown of the University under the assurance that the Centre would enact a Vemula Act, but nothing has been forthcoming here. Besides, the forms of caste discrimination included in the 2012 Regulation were based on studies available at that point in time. After the Thorat Committee Report of 2007, much more evidence has been generated on the nature and forms of discrimination, which need to be incorporated in the 2012 Regulations.

The other issue for the ministry of education is the discrimination in schools, on which there seems to be complete silence. SC/ST children have quietly suffered discrimination in schools, involving separate sitting, eating, and drinking water and the unspoken restriction on the employment of SCs as cooks for midday meals. The discrimination has sometimes assumed severe forms, resulting in suicide. During 2013-2017, about 49 students committed suicide in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, half of whom were SC/ST students. Another issue that UGC must address is the jurisdiction of the 2012 Regulation. It seems that the 2012 Regulations cover only universities and colleges, possibly excluding the Institutes of National Importance and the IITs and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other standalone institutions. IITs such as Delhi and Bombay seek protection under this for exclusion from implementing the 2012 Regulations. There is a need for clarity here. The 2012 Regulations should be expanded to cover all educational institutions under the ambit of the ministry of education, ministry of health, UGC, National Medical Commission, All India Council of Technical Education, and all other statutory councils, apart from our schools.

Sukhadeo Thorat is former chairman, UGC. He is an intervenor in the petition filed by the mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi before the Supreme Court.The views expressed are personal

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