Patna, Mar 18 (PTI) Left-wing and Dalit students staged a protest here on Wednesday in support of the UGC Equity Regulations 2026, officials said.
Representatives of the All India Students Association (AISA), Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), Bhim Army and other groups, gathered under the banner of the All India Forum for Equity (AIFE), took part in the protest at Dak Bungalow Chauraha.
While AISA and RYA are student wings of CPI (ML) Liberation, Bhim Army is a Dalit rights organisation.
According to a statement by AIFE, police briefly detained several protestors after a minor scuffle with them.
However, talking to PTI, SDPO (Town-2) denied claims of detention and any use of force.
Briefing reporters, CPI(ML) Liberation MLC Shashi Yadav, who was present there, said, “Discrimination remains rampant in educational institutions. In view of this, students have come here in large numbers in support of the UGC Equity Regulations.” She alleged that the Supreme Court stayed the UGC Equity Regulations following the directions of the Union government.
The top court on January 29 stayed the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, which were notified on January 13.
Under the regulation framework, universities and colleges were required to set up an Equal Opportunity Centre with an Equity Committee to address complaints of discrimination and promote inclusion.
Apart from the implementation of the UGC Equity Regulations, protestors demanded enforcement of 65 per cent reservation for SC/ST/EBC/BC categories, and enactment of a ‘Rohith Act’ to address caste-based discrimination in higher education, the AIFE statement highlighted.
Other demands included rollback of the National Education Policy 2020, abolition of the EWS quota, scrapping of the collegium system, and extension of reservation in private sector jobs and the judiciary, it added. PTI SUK MNB
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