Author: Dinesh Abrol | EPW Vol. 61, No. 11, March 14, 2026
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhisthan (VBSA) Bill 2025 proposes to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956 with a single apex regulatory body directly answerable to the Prime Minister’s Office. Abrol argues this represents an unprecedented centralisation of higher education governance and a structural assault on cooperative federalism.
The Proposed Architecture
The VBSA Bill 2025 envisions:
- A Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhisthan — single apex body subsuming UGC, AICTE, NMC (for professional education), and sector-specific councils
- Governing board chaired by a person appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office
- Powers to set curriculum, accreditation standards, fee structures, and faculty norms for all central and state universities
- States excluded from the governing board — no representative of state governments or elected bodies
| Feature | UGC Act 1956 | VBSA Bill 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory structure | Autonomous statutory body | PMO-linked apex authority |
| State role | States regulate affiliated colleges | States have no formal role |
| Coverage | Central universities primarily | All central + state universities |
| Accountability | Parliament via HRD Ministry | PMO directly |
| Affirmative action | UGC Equity Regulations in force | Unclear / not specified |
Constitutional Conflict: Concurrent List and Article 246
Education is a Concurrent List subject (Entry 25, List III, Seventh Schedule, inserted by the 42nd Amendment, 1976). This means:
- Both Parliament and state legislatures can legislate on education
- In case of conflict, Parliament’s law prevails (Article 254), but states retain space for supplementary legislation
- The VBSA Bill’s architecture effectively converts a Concurrent subject into a Union List subject in practice — states lose legislative and administrative relevance
Article 246 read with Schedule 7:
Parliament has exclusive power over Union List subjects (List I); both Parliament and states share power over Concurrent List subjects (List III). Higher education (Entry 25, List III) has historically been a space of shared governance.
The bill bypasses this balance by placing implementation authority in a body with no state representation, violating the spirit of cooperative federalism even if technically within parliamentary competence.
NEP 2020 vs VBSA 2025: A Federal Contradiction
The National Education Policy 2020 explicitly acknowledged:
- Need for greater autonomy to institutions
- Multi-stakeholder governance — faculty, students, community, states
- States to develop their own State Education Policies (SEPs) aligned with NEP
VBSA 2025 reverses this: it moves from multi-stakeholder autonomy to single-centre control, contradicting NEP 2020’s declared federal spirit.
| Dimension | NEP 2020 | VBSA Bill 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Governance principle | Decentralisation + autonomy | Centralisation under PMO |
| State role | States to design SEPs | States excluded from apex body |
| Institutional autonomy | Enhanced graded autonomy | Standardisation from above |
| Regulatory bodies | Multiple (UGC, AICTE, NMC) | Single fused apex |
Risks: Commercialisation and Equity
Abrol warns of three structural risks:
- Commercialisation: Deregulation of fee structures allows private players to set premium fees without state oversight — affordable education threatened
- Privatisation: A single PMO-linked body can fast-track deemed university status and dilute entry norms for private players
- Widening gap: Central institutions (IITs, IIMs, central universities) already far better funded than state institutions — central control will further skew resource allocation and rankings in favour of elite central institutions
Sukhadeo Thorat’s position (EPW Vol. 61, No. 11): Thorat defends the UGC Equity Regulations 2026, which mandate affirmative action in admissions, faculty recruitment, and campus infrastructure for SC/ST/OBC students. These regulations — developed under UGC’s existing statutory framework — would have no guaranteed successor under VBSA’s architecture, risking erosion of constitutional affirmative action obligations.
UPSC Angle
- GS2 — Polity: Cooperative federalism; Article 246 and Schedule 7; Centre-state relations in education; constitutional validity of centralising concurrent subjects
- GS2 — Governance: Higher education regulation; institutional autonomy; UGC vs VBSA; NEP 2020 implementation
- GS2 — Social Justice: Affirmative action in higher education; equity regulations; impact on SC/ST/OBC students
Likely Mains question: “The VBSA Bill 2025 privileges administrative efficiency over constitutional federalism in higher education. Critically examine.” (GS2, 15 marks)
Facts Corner
- Education in Constitution: Concurrent List, Entry 25, List III — inserted by 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976
- UGC Act, 1956: University Grants Commission — existing statutory regulator; distributes grants, sets standards
- NEP 2020: Calls for graded autonomy, multi-stakeholder governance, and states to frame State Education Policies
- 42nd Amendment (1976): Moved education from State List to Concurrent List during Emergency
- Article 254: In case of repugnancy between a central and state law on a Concurrent subject, the central law prevails (subject to Presidential assent to state law)
- Sukhadeo Thorat: Former UGC Chairman; eminent scholar of Dalit studies and affirmative action in higher education
- AICTE: All India Council for Technical Education — regulates engineering, management, pharmacy, architecture colleges
