Lucknow: The protests demanding immediate rollback of new University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, making it mandatory for all higher education institutions to constitute equity committees comprising members from OBC, SC and ST communities to address complaints of discrimination and promote inclusion continued for the second day across the state, including Lucknow, on Wednesday.In the state capital, students under the banner of Chhatra Panchayat gathered at the Gandhi statue in Hazratganj.The protesters alleged that the new rules are not in the interest of students and would create divisions within university campuses. Raising slogans such as “UGC Roll Back,” “Bantenge Toh Katenge,” and “Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain,” the demonstrators accused the UGC of promoting discriminatory policies in the name of equality. They claimed the regulations unfairly target students from the general category while ignoring economic hardships faced by many within it. Chhatra Panchayat president Shivam Pandey said, “This black law is unacceptable. The Prime Minister spoke of unity, but these regulations will only poison the atmosphere inside university campuses. Students eat together, study together, and do not even know each other’s surnames. This law is politically motivated and aims to divide students.” Protesters also raised concerns over the absence of provisions to penalize false complaints, warning that the rules could be misused. In Prayagraj, scores of students owing their allegiance to various student outfits assembled at the Chhatra Sangh Bhawan on the Allahabad University (AU) campus and shouted slogans. Students asserted that the new UGC Bill will adversely affect the rights of general category students and lacks safeguards against misuse through false complaints. In Varanasi, the protestors from Banaras Hindu University and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth warned to intensify their movement if the bill is not withdrawn. When the agitated students tried to enter the district headquarters, police stopped them at the main gate. Angered by this, the protesters sat on dharna and raised slogans against the govt.Students said that OBC, SC-ST and disabled members were made mandatory in the grievance redressal committee, but they wondered why a member from the upper caste community was not given a place in it. “If the bill talked about equality, then representation of the upper caste community should also be mandatory so that no allegation of discrimination arose in the future,” said a student. In Kanpur, the students of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology staged a protest with black bands on their hands and black flags against new UGC regulations. A foot march was also taken out from Karpuri hostel of CSA university to Company Bagh intersection. In another protest, a group of people from the upper caste shaved their heads in protest against UGC’s regulation. In Deoria, score of people led by Pritam Mishra, president of the Deoria Collectorate Bar Association, staged a sit-in on the district court premises.In Rae Bareli, the BJP Kisan Morcha’s Salon mandal president, Shyam Sundar Tripathi, resigned from his post in protest against the new UGC regulations. In his resignation letter dated Jan 25, addressed to the prime minister and party leaders, Tripathi said he was dissatisfied with the new rules, which he termed “harmful” and “divisive”. In Kaushambi, a video of a protest by a local office-bearer of the ‘Savarna Army’ has gone viral on social media. Abhishek Pandey, the district head of the ‘Savarna Army’, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his blood, calling the new regulations a “black law”. Lawyers give 48-hour ultimatum for rollbackPrayagraj: Threatening to launch a public movement, a section of lawyers of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday gave the govt 48 hours to withdraw the recently introduced UGC’s equity regulations in higher education. Staging a protest at Ambedkar crossing near the high court, the lawyers raised slogans, burnt the copy of the UGC regulation and demanded the withdrawal of ‘divisive’ regulations.The protest was led by former joint secretary of the High Court Bar Association, Ashutosh Tiwari. Prominent among those who actively participated in the movement included Shashi Dwivedi, Brijesh Singh Senger, Ashutosh Shukla and Krishna Mohan Pandey.