India, Jan. 30 -- Caste is among India's oldest faultlines, one that has resisted multiple attempts to eradicate discrimination and instead mutated into newer forms over time. Caste bias in campuses is a reality documented both by personal accounts as well as government data on student dropouts and faculty strength. It, therefore, stands to reason that the government should try to safeguard people from marginalised backgrounds. Unfortunately, efforts in this direction have been stymied by poor implementation or grassroots resistance even as education has emerged as a silver bullet for millions of Indians trying to build a better life. The latest attempt in this direction has landed in controversy after the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued equity guidelines earlier this month, updating the 2012 rules. The norms explicitly protect scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward classes members and mandate an equity committee to look into complaints of discrimination. But some upper-caste groups argue the definition excludes the general category, creating a presumption of guilt. They also allege that general category students may face false cases since the final rules removed a provision penalising false complaints. The Supreme Court has now stayed the rules and observed that they can divide society and have a dangerous impact if misused. When the Mandal Commission recommendations for OBC reservations were enacted in the 1990s, it sparked consternation among upper castes, some of whom set themselves aflame to protest against what they saw as a dilution of merit. Yet, both logic (reservation only levels the playing field, allowing meritorious students to counteract caste bias) and politics (backward classes form a large and potent vote bank) ensured quotas strengthened over time. Ironically, some groups initially opposed to caste quotas have now come to demand it themselves. Educational campuses hold exceptional importance in the national life of a developing country such as India because they're de facto vehicles of modernity and prosperity. It is imperative that these spaces be kept as equitable and free of bias as possible. Concerns about the framework must be addressed. The court's observation - that some rules were vague and prone to misuse - must also be looked into and rectified. All students - those from marginalised backgrounds and others - deserve norms that are clear and fair. But the controversy should not hurt the mission to stop caste bias from leaking into classrooms....