The University Grants Commission, at the behest of the Human Resource Development Ministry, has asked all universities that get Central funds to report data on their SC/ST, OBC, women and minority sudents and the courses they are enrolled in.

In a directive sent out earlier this month, the UGC has also introduced a “special development grant” meant to incentivise affirmative action. Under this, universities that have a higher percentage of students or teachers from marginalised sections or which submit a plan to increase their presence will get grants — from Rs 50 crore to Rsd 500 crore.

The universities have also been asked to report the share of teachers and students from these socially and educationally backward groups as on March 31, 2002 and March 31, 2007.

The comparative information has been asked as a matter of stocktaking exercise at the end of the Xth Plan period. And now with the XIth Plan to begin from April 1, the universities have been asked a specific question: how do they plan to increase their enrolment and recruitment figures for both faculty and students over a period of next five years?

In the wake of the OBC quota law and the Sachar committee report, sources said UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat, a known votary of affirmative action in government and the private sector with several books on this subject to his name, has followed the directions of Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.