When I teach, I often begin by asking my students a simple question: What do you think of Ambedkar? It is painful how frequently students describe him as the man who “took away” their “merit” through reservation. The merit-versus-quota debate continues to divide the nation because we refuse to interrogate what merit means in an unequal society.

I often wonder how unequal social conditions can produce equal competition. I’m appalled by the level of discourse surrounding the UGC’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, which superseded the 2012 guidelines by the same name. The hue and cry over what might have been a run-of-the-mill revision is disheartening, if not surprising. What’s more heartbreaking is that........

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