EQUITY, EQUALITY, AND THE UNIVERSITY
Universities have historically been sites where society's deepest conflicts surface first. The protests by General Category students against …
EQUITY, EQUALITY, AND THE UNIVERSITY
Universities have historically been sites where society's deepest conflicts surface first. The protests by General Category students against the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026 must therefore be read not just as resistance to a regulatory framework, but as an anxiety over how equity is being redefined within Indian higher education. At the heart of the debate lies a conceptual tension as old as the Constitution itself: equality of opportunity versus corrective justice . The Intent of the Regulations The stated objective of the Regulations is unambiguous. Clause 4 mandates every Higher Education Institution (HEI) to " eradicate discrimination and promote equity " across grounds of caste, religion, gender, language, ethnicity, disability, and region [1] . This clause reflects the constitutional morality articulated in Articles 14, 15, and 46 , and resonates with B.R. Ambedkar's insistence that political equality is ...
