E-Paper
Reserve seats for MP students, say activists
The chaos witnessed during counselling for admission to the MBBS course through the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) has spurred social activists as well as Vyapam whistle-blowers to demand a bill safeguarding the interests of candidates from Madhya Pradesh.
The chaos witnessed during counselling for admission to the MBBS course through the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) has spurred social activists as well as Vyapam whistle-blowers to demand a bill safeguarding the interests of candidates from Madhya Pradesh.
They have demanded that the rights of local students be protected as far as admissions to government and private medical colleges in the state are concerned.
Candidates from Madhya Pradesh who presented themselves for counselling at the Gandhi Medical College over the last two days have alleged irregularities in the process.
They demanded reservation of seats for domicile candidates, as is the case with other states.
Anand Rai, an activist, termed the present scenario as an “emergency-like situation”.
“The government should hold a special session of the state assembly to pass a bill providing reservation of seats for domicile candidates. Students from other states should be granted admission in our medical colleges only under the all-India quota,” he said.
Candidates said the confusion over counselling had been a traumatic experience, and a complete waste of their time.
“I registered for counselling in August last week. My name didn’t appear in the first allotment list. However, after scoring 96 percentile, I was sure that I would figure in the next one. The counselling process began after the Supreme Court’s order on September 24. Then, more changes took place due to three other court orders and, finally, the second round of counselling began on September 30. But the system crashed due to alleged hacking, and the process came to a halt again,” said a student from Indore on the condition of anonymity.
“Now, the process has started again – this time with increased competition due to participation of candidates from other states. I don’t know if I will get admission or not, but I am feeling traumatised. I lost my trust in the state’s education system. They have no respect for students,” he said.
His dismay found reflection in the words of another candidate at the scene.
“The allotment list was released on October 2, and I found myself eligible for admission to a medical college. However, after non-domicile students entered the scene, I lost hope of getting admitted even to a BDS course,” she said.
She wondered why the ruling party was doing the residents of the state “injustice” when it was they – not people from other states – who voted it in.
While former MLA Paras Saklecha alleged that the “whole drama” was orchestrated to benefit private medical colleges, Congress district president PC Sharma blamed the state government for ignoring the problems faced by its students.
“We are planning to move the Supreme Court again to seek relief,” Sharma said.
Sharad Jain, minister of state for medical education, gave his assurance that students from the state will have nothing to complain about from next year.
“However, this year, we are bound by the court’s order,” he said.
SEAT SCENARIO
840 seats in government medical colleges
87 seats vacant in government colleges
2534 seats in private medical colleges
730 seats vacant in private medical college
