(UCA News) — When India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) announced its equity regulations for higher education early this year, the response was swift and divided. Some saw overdue recognition of systemic exclusion. Others called the move divisive.

Within weeks, the Supreme Court suspended implementation of the rules, calling them vague. But beneath the legal arguments and political positioning lies a starker reality: students are dying, and India’s institutions have failed to protect them.

For the Church, this is not someone else’s crisis. Christian institutions educate millions across India, many in communities where caste determines dignity long before merit is measured.

When Rohith Chakradhar Vemula, a Dalit doctoral scholar, took his life at the University of Hyderabad in January 2016, his final letter spoke of being reduced to his “immediate identity” — never treated as a mind, only as a vote or a number.

His death sparked nationwide protests, but the pattern has continued.

Payal Tadvi, a tribal medical student, died by suicide in 2019 after enduring casteist taunts from peers. Darshan Solanki, a Scheduled Caste student at IIT Bombay, followed in 2023.

Each left behind families, friends and unanswered questions about what their institutions could have done differently.

These are not isolated tragedies. They expose a structure in which certain students enter campuses already marked, their presence perpetually questioned.

The UGC regulations attempted to address this by mandating equity committees with representation from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, persons with disabilities and women.

The intent was institutional accountability. The execution raised legitimate concerns: committees chaired by vice chancellors, many appointed through........

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