Quota will cover IIT, IIM and medical schools

HRD Minister Arjun Singh indicated that central universities may not get additional seats to accommodate the 27 per cent OBC quota.

Updated on: Apr 11, 2006, 17:26:00 IST

None | By Sanchita Sharma, New Delhi

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The 27 per cent quota for other backward classes will also be introduced in medical colleges funded by the Centre from the academic session beginning 2007.

“Medical colleges are part of the central government-funded educational institutions and will introduce a quota for OBCs along with IITs and IIMs as proposed by the Human Resource Development Ministry” says Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

Also on Friday, HRD Minister Arjun Singh indicated that central universities may not get additional seats to accommodate the 27 per cent OBC quota. The IITs and IIMs may, however, get more seats as the Planning Commission has already sanctioned money for the additional intake for the current financial year.

Of the 242 medical colleges in the country, 113 are run by the government. Of these, the Centre funds six — AIIMS, Mahavir Medical College (Safdarjang Hospital) and Lady Hardinge in Delhi, PGI Chandigarh, LGPGI Lucknow and JIPMER Pondicherry.

Under the new proposal, the total reservation in medical colleges will go up from the existing 22.5 per cent (for SC and ST students) to 49.5 per cent.

“We support reservation in colleges but we’re still in the process of formulating a policy govern ing medical colleges,” says health secretary Prasanna Hota.

Health Ministry sources say apart from MBBS, the reservation will include postgraduate courses like MD and MS.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanchita Sharma
Sanchita is the health & science editor of the Hindustan Times. She has been reporting and writing on public health policy, health and nutrition for close to two decades. She is an International Reporting Project fellow from Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and was part of the expert group that drafted the Press Council of India’s media guidelines on health reporting, including reporting on people living with HIV.Read More

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