00:00Amid growing criticism of the new UGC rules,
00:07Bareilly City Magistrate Alankar Agnihotri resigned from service,
00:10saying that the new rules promote caste-based discontent.
00:13What's in the new UGC rules and why are they facing pushback?
00:16Let's take a look.
00:24The new University Grants Commission regulations revised the 2012 regulations,
00:28the 2026 guidelines explicitly bring other backward classes
00:31within the ambit of discrimination alongside schedule castes and schedule tribes.
00:40Here's what the guidelines say.
00:41The regulations define discrimination broadly.
00:44It includes unfair treatment based on caste, tribe, religion, gender, disability, race or place of birth.
00:51Every higher education institution is required to establish an equal opportunity centre.
00:56These centres will be responsible for receiving complaints
00:58and monitoring issues related to discrimination.
01:03Institutions are required to establish systems to receive, record and address complaints related to discrimination.
01:08What's the controversy?
01:10Some students argue that the new guidelines could be misused and may lead to excessive regulation.
01:14Others have raised concerns over vague definitions,
01:17particularly the expanded meaning of discrimination,
01:19which they say is open to subjective interpretation
01:21and could be applied inconsistently by institutions.
01:24Law.
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