Mulya Pravah 2.0

Mulya Pravah 2.0

News: The recent guidelines by UGC aims to promote ethics and value education in Higher education institutions in India.

What is Mulya Pravah 2.0?
• Mulya Pravah 2.0 is a guideline issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in India, aiming to instill human values and professional ethics in higher education institutions. It is a modified version of the 2019 Mulya Pravah guideline.
• It was introduced following unethical practices highlighted by a human resource managers’ survey, such as favoritism, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination in various organizational processes.

What are key aspects of Mulya Pravah 2.0?
• Inculcating human values and professional ethics in higher education institutions to build value-based institutions and promote constitutional values.
• Instilling deep respect for fundamental duties and constitutional values.
• Developing a culture of integrity, accountability, transparency, and inclusiveness in higher education institutions.
• Encouraging critical thinking and open communication.
• Promoting transparency in decision-making and accountability for actions.
• Recognizing and rewarding ethical behavior.
• While it stresses confidentiality, this contrasts with the right to information for accountability. Institutions are urged to disclose critical information publicly.
• Teachers are expected to be role models, maintaining good conduct and standards. Staff and students’ unions should support administration constructively.

What are the concerns related to guidelines?
• Vagueness of Terms: The lack of a clear definition for terms like ‘dignified manner’ may lead to suppressing dissent. This could potentially undermine stakeholders’ voices.
• Implementation Challenges: The effectiveness of the guidelines hinges on sincere implementation efforts. There could be challenges in ensuring that these values are truly integrated into the education system in practice, not just in policy.
• Conflicts with Right to Information: The guideline emphasizes maintaining confidentiality, which could conflict with the right to information, a key aspect of ensuring accountability.
• Union Activities: The guidelines suggest that unions should align with the administration, which may conflict with their role as representatives of their members’ interests. There are reservations about unions’ limited role in protecting members’ rights.
• Potential Misuse: The vagueness of certain terms could lead to misuse.