On Wednesday, hundreds of ‘general category’ students from Delhi University staged a protest against the University Grants Commission’s recent guidelines to tackle caste discrimination on college campuses. Newslaundry spoke to students participating in this protest and to those in favour of these guidelines.  

One of the students participating in these protests was Vishwavidit Pratap Singh, a research scholar at Delhi University. Speaking to Newslaundry, he said, “This law is like a mob lynching regulation for general category students, teachers, and staff. General category students and teachers in higher education institutions are living in fear and apprehension because of it. We will continue our protest from the streets to Parliament until these rules are withdrawn.”

However, another Delhi University research scholar, Ashutosh, spoke in support of the new guidelines. He told us, “According to the UGC, there has been a 118 percent increase in cases of caste discrimination in the last five years. We need to think about who is behind such protests. These rules need to be implemented more strictly, especially in universities. In an educated society, casteism is not always visible directly, but it exists nonetheless.”

Meanwhile, Delhi University professor N Sukumar said, “I have been teaching here for about 25 years, but even today, discrimination is visible on campus. I too have not been immune to it.”

Alongside these protests, another battle is playing out in the Supreme Court, where a public interest litigation was filed against UGC’s equity measures. On Thursday, the court imposed a temporary stay on the guidelines, and the matter will be heard next on March 19. In the meantime, campuses are expected to continue with the UGC’s 2012 guidelines. 

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