Quota hits knowledge panel

CALL IT the quota impact. Two members of the National Knowledge Commission -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille -- resigned from the panel on Monday in opposition to the government's stand on reservation. They were among the six panellists who had opposed the proposal to reserve 27 per cent seats for OBCs.

2 members quit; PM renews appeal

HT Image

CALL IT the quota impact. Two members of the National Knowledge Commission -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille -- resigned from the panel on Monday in opposition to the government's stand on reservation. They were among the six panellists who had opposed the proposal to reserve 27 per cent seats for OBCs.

The reservation wrangle continued behind the doors and in the streets. The six-hour-long meeting between Union home secretary P.C. Hota and the striking medicos failed to make a breakthrough as the government refused to accept the students' demand to constitute an expert panel to look into the issue. The medicos said the agitation would go on.

Later in the day, a conciliatory note was present in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address at a function to mark the UPA's second year in office. Asking students to call off the agitation and to have faith in the government, he said, "We will provide education opportunities to all our children."

Conciliation was, however, the last thing that figured on the resignation letter that Mehta, convener of the Knowledge Commission, sent to the PM. "Many of the recent announcements made by your government with respect to higher education leads me to the conclusion that my continuation on the commission will serve no useful purpose," it read.