[3] In June 2014, following the change of power in the central government from the Congress-led UPA to the BJP-led NDA government, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had sent a legal notice to the management, directing the university to immediately scrap the four-year programme and revert to the earlier three-year undergraduate degree,[4] as it had claimed that it found the four-year programme to be in violation with the National Policy of Education in India.
The syllabus of the four-year undergraduate programme, on the other hand, consisted of eleven compulsory foundation courses including language, literature and creativity, information technology, business, entrepreneurship and management, science and life, history of science (for visually impaired students), Indian history and culture, building mathematical ability and awareness (for visually impaired students), governance and citizenship, philosophy, psychology, communication and life skills, geographic and socio-economic diversity, environment and public health, and an applied language course (in English, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Persian, Punjabi, Sanskrit or Urdu).
According to updates and sources on the university website, these foundation courses were designed with the intention of addressing issues related to economic development, energy, water, urbanisation, rural culture, infrastructure, transport, sanitation, environment, public health, food security, agriculture, education, literacy, ethics, and social justice.
[19] The Times of India maintained a balanced coverage on the protests and initially interviewed members of the student-teacher community as well as later the administrative staff, without taking any stand of its own.
[20] The Hindu newspaper[21][22] and The Hindustan Times[23] opposed the reforms but also criticised the UGC for interfering with the autonomy of the university after the Smriti Irani–led ministry ordered a rollback.