Govt pacifies students, says all will benefit

The government on Monday did a balancing act on the controversial quota proposal and said it will put in place a mechanism that will ensure interests of all sections of society, including protesting students.

The government on Monday did a balancing act on the controversial quota proposal and said it will put in place a mechanism that will ensure interests of all sections of society, including protesting students.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, headed by the Prime Minister, reviewed the situation and appealed to the students’ to end their agitation. “We will ensure a mechanism in which it will be possible to ensure interests of all sections of the society. But I am in no position to give a framework,” Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

A group of ministers will meet informally to find a solution, he added. Meanwhile, medical students on Monday rejected HRD Minister Arjun Singh’s invitation for talks on reservation. They said they had lost “faith” in him, and want to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the issue.