Where are quota students?

Many in the academic world foresee a scenario where OBC seats will remain vacant, writes Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: May 18, 2006, 14:25:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Union Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Arjun Singh has played his card by proposing 27 per cent reservation for OBC students in higher education institutions. But here's a question for him to chew on. Where will the students come from?

Many in the academic world foresee a scenario where a majority of the seats remains vacant.

There are a number of reasons they cite in favour of the claim. For one, the enrolment figure of OBC students in schools is just 29 per cent, says a study by National Institute of Education Planning and Administration.

"If we consider the drop-out rate in the country, one can presume that the enrolment will not be more than 15 per cent," said an educationist.

The figure, however, is increasing across the country except in Kerala and Maharashtra, where the enrolment is already high. Going by the figures, all OBC candidates who reach higher education level can get admission because of reservation.

The existing 22.5 reservation for SC/ST candidates is also a pointer to the times ahead, academics say. Even 50 years after reservation for the SC/ST was introduced, enrolment in higher education is not more than 16 per cent, even though the enrolment at school level is about 32 per cent.

Moreover, experience has shown that the higher the standards of an institute, the lower was the rate of admissions. In the seven IITs, the enrolment ratio is just about 15 per cent. In the premier management institutes, IIMs, the rate is close to 14.12 per cent, says the latest annual report of the HRD ministry.

Reservation has provided access to higher education for SC/ST students, academicians say, but the real problem lies in the school system.

"The drop-out rate for SC/ST students is as high as 70-80 per cent as compared to that of general category students," said a senior HRD ministry official.

This is amply demonstrated in the figures of enrolment in Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. Of the 12 crore SC/ST students enrolled in schools, just 16,000 odd reach higher education institutions. The highest drop-out rate is at the primary level itself.

But doesn't the Mandal Commission say that the OBC population in India is about 52 per cent? Surely, they have the youngsters to fill many colleges. Not really, say experts. The problem, again, starts at the basics.

"As most of the OBCs are from economically weaker sections, the drop rate is likely to be similar to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes," an official said.

Not a problem, says the government. "The government has taken note of this and special incentives including scholarship have been initiated to reduce the drop rate," an official said.

But even the most optimistic government official admits that filling seats in technical institutes like engineering and medical colleges — where entry is screened by a tough entrance examination — would be a challenge.

"We are thinking of giving financial incentives to deal with it," an official said.

The scenario could be slightly different in universities (for example, Delhi University) and colleges where an open admission system gives the OBCs a better chance.

"The proposed law provides for a separate admission procedure and subsidised fee structrure which will ensure that OBC students get admission," an official said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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