Quota: Doctors to continue strike

The decision came in view of Govt not agreeing to their demand of setting up of an expert panel to review policy.

Doctors and medical students on Saturday night decided to continue their strike in view of government not agreeing to their demand of setting up of a committee of experts to review the reservation policy.

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"We have decided to continue with the strike. But we are ready to negotiate," a member of the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association said.

The decision was taken at a late night meeting of the AIIMS' resident doctors and students.

However, the doctors had agreed not to persist with their demand for a total roll back of the proposed quota for the OBCs as government had given an assurance to increase the number of seats in educational institutions, they said.

"We want a committee of experts to look into the entire reservation policy, who should get the benefit, how long it should be continued and who all are the other backward classes," he said.

PM appeals to striking medicos

Assuring all sections of an "amicable" settlement in the reservation issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday night appealed to the striking medicos to call off their agitation and have faith in government's "sincerity".

The report is understood to have recommended an increase in the number of seats in the elite educational institutions like IITs and IIMs without affecting the general category seats and its implementation in a phased manner.