New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Wednesday claimed that the RSS and its affiliates are "exploiting" the UGC's equity regulations to foment caste divisions within educational institutions, even as it asked for rectifying "serious inadequacies" in it and extend it to IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other similar bodies.
In a statement, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau appealed to students and all those associated with educational institutions to maintain unity, as only through collective effort can caste discrimination be effectively fought.
It urged the UGC to urgently rectify the "serious inadequacies" in its Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026. It demanded that the 'Equity Committees' formed to address discrimination must be closely monitored.
It said these regulations flow from Article 14 of the Constitution and are a response to Supreme Court observations, as were the 2012 Regulations, and must therefore be enforced in both letter and spirit.
"However, the regulations are confined only to universities and their affiliated colleges and are not enforceable in central institutions such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, and other similar bodies. It is imperative that the government address this serious lacuna and extend effective equity mechanisms to these institutions as well," the CPI(M) said.
"The Regulations also fail to define discrimination in a comprehensive manner. They appear to focus primarily on eliminating the perception of discrimination, thereby obscuring the lived realities within higher education institutions. The framework must be strengthened to explicitly acknowledge, define, identify, and eliminate all forms of discrimination faced by students and faculty," it said.
The constitution of the Equity Committee should not be left to the "whims and fancies" of the head of the institution, it said, adding instead, it must be carried out through democratically elected representatives of students, faculty, and non-teaching staff to ensure credibility and accountability.
Further, it said, the UGC has appropriated to itself the authority to appoint an ombudsperson to adjudicate appeals against decisions of the Equity Committee. Given that a substantial number of universities are established under Acts of state legislatures, the power to appoint an ombudsperson should rest with the respective state governments, in keeping with the federal principles enshrined in the Constitution.
"The BJP-led union government has increasingly communalised education by introducing retrograde and unscientific elements into academic curricula. The inclusion of texts such as the Manusmriti – which legitimises caste discrimination and glorifies a varna-based, oppressive, and exploitative social order – will only reinforce prejudices based on caste and gender. The government must immediately remove such obscurantist texts from the syllabi," it said.
"The RSS and its affiliate organisations are exploiting the notification of these Regulations to foment caste divisions within educational institutions. The union government must take immediate steps to curb such attempts and act firmly against them," it added.