CHENNAI: Calling for the implementation of the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2026, and the Enactment of the Rohith Vemula Act, various social organisations held a joint state convention in the city on Tuesday.
The convention was held by the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association (TNPWAA).
The convention highlighted that to ensure a “Casteless Campus”, immediate and effective UGC Act and Rohith Vemula Act was paramount. The speakers at the event stressed that only the implementation of these Acts will ensure justice, dignity and equality in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).
They also pointed out that the UGC (Equity) Regulations, 2026, have emerged after years of sustained struggles by students and socially oppressed communities, particularly in the aftermath of the institutional murders of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi. “Such tragic incidents exposed the deep-rooted caste discrimination prevailing within university spaces and caused widespread protests on campuses across the country,” they added.
The convention also demanded remedial measures such as democratic and autonomous equity mechanisms, strict implementation of reservation laws and Acts, representation in all-campus bodies, sensitisation and social justice measures and transparency and public accountability.
Specifically, it called for the full implementation of the 2006 and 2019 Reservation Acts in admissions and faculty recruitment, publication of cadre-wise rosters in the public domain, declaration and time-bound filling of backlog vacancies through special recruitment drives, disciplinary action against authorities violating reservation norms and ensuring reservation in recruitment of non-teaching staff in letter and spirit.
“Equity cannot remain a guideline; it must become a guaranteed right. The UGC (Equity) Regulations, 2026, must bear the historical memory of Rohith Vemula and acknowledge the struggles that led to their formulation. Justice delayed cannot become justice denied,” said a speaker and representative of TNUEF.
Additionally, the convention called upon all democratic sections of society, students, teachers, workers, and civil society organisations, to unite in defence of constitutional values and to build campuses grounded in equality, dignity and fraternity.