UGC rollback protest called off after Nadda, Jitendra Singh meet ‘Savarna’ delegation

Union Minister J.P. Nadda during a press conference in Bengaluru, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI The Kshatriya Karni Sena and coalitions of ‘Savarna’ groups called off their Sunday (September 20, 2026) protest demanding the complete rollback of the 2026 UGC caste discrimination draft regulations, hours after Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh met delegates in New Delhi the night before.Mr. Nadda said that discussions were held in a “cordial atmosphere” and that the “government will give due consideration to their demands”. While announcing that the protest scheduled for Sunday was being called off, Raj Shekhawat, the national president of the Kshatriya Karni Sena, added that the government had “proposed talks” and called the Saturday (September 19, 2026) meeting at Mr. Nadda’s residence “a significant achievement of our collective endeavours”.Mr. Shekhawat, along with a coalition of ‘Savarna’ outfits, was scheduled to lead a UGC rollback mahapanchayat protest at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Sunday. Their demands centred on the complete rollback of the 2026 caste-equity draft regulations, notified in January and stayed by the Supreme Court shortly after protests in several campuses in north India.The Union government’s decision to engage with the delegation led by Mr. Shekhawat on this issue came even as the death by suicide of a Dalit student at IIT Bombay amid allegations of caste discrimination has further fuelled the ongoing debate on the UGC draft regulations.During the meeting on Saturday, about which Mr. Nadda made a statement on social media at 2 a.m., the government sought three weeks’ time to look into the demands raised by these groups and “conduct a detailed study”. Mr. Nadda, in his statement, said that the government had agreed to meet with the delegation again in three weeks’ time.In his statement after the meeting with the Cabinet Ministers, Mr. Shekhawat said, “Talks with the government have already begun on all the major demands for which this mahapanchayat was proposed, and the government has taken it seriously. We hope that the upcoming talks will yield concrete and positive decisions toward resolving all these discrepancies.”The issue over the UGC draft regulations has been brewing since January this year. The draft regulations, meant to address caste-based discrimination being faced by students at college campuses in India, came about in the process of a larger Supreme Court case. In this matter, parents of several Dalit and marginalised caste students who had died by suicide had approached the Supreme Court to tighten the implementation of UGC’s 2012 anti-discrimination guidelines.In the process, the Central government decided to notify draft regulations in January this year, which led to protests from “general” category students and ‘Savarna’ outfits across campuses in north India. Their principal problem with the draft was its definition of caste-based discrimination. They argued that by defining caste-based discrimination as an act against only SC, ST or OBC persons, the regulations were assuming that “general” category or upper-caste persons were “natural oppressors”.The protests led to several petitions in the Supreme Court, which quickly stayed the 2026 draft regulations and called for the 2012 regulations to be in place till the matter is decided. While the Centre has told the Supreme Court that it is reconsidering the draft regulations, it has yet to file an affidavit stating its Published - September 20, 2026 07:18 pm IST