New Delhi: There are 27 reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and economically weaker sections under the All India Quota Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in medical and dental courses in India. There will be a 10 percent reservation for classes (EWS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday.
Appreciating the “historic decision” taken by the government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “This will help thousands of our youth get better opportunities every year and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.” ‘
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also lauded the ‘historic decision’. He said in a tweet, “A historic decision has been taken by the government in the field of medical education in the country. Under the All India Quota, 27 percent reservation will be given to OBC students and 10 percent to weaker income group (EWS) students in undergraduate/postgraduate, medical and dental education.
A statement issued by the Health Ministry said that the Prime Minister in a meeting held on Monday had directed the concerned Central Ministries to find an effective solution to this long pending issue.
This decision will benefit about 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in post-graduation and about 550 EWS students in MBBS and about 1,000 EWS students in post-graduation.
The ministry said, “The present government is committed to providing proper reservation to both backward class as well as EWS category. The Central Government has now taken a historic decision to provide 27 percent reservation for OBCs and 10 percent reservation for EWS in AIQ.”
OBC students across the country will now be able to take advantage of this reservation in AIQ scheme to compete for seats in any state. Being a central scheme, the central list of OBCs will be used for this purpose.
The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court to provide domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any state wishing to study in a good medical college in another state. All India quota comprises 15 percent of the total available UG seats and 50 percent of the total available PG seats in government medical colleges. Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ scheme till 2007.
In 2007, the Supreme Court introduced 15 percent reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 7.5 percent for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the scheme.
When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act came into force in 2007, providing a uniform 27 percent reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), it was extended to all central educational institutions such as Safdarjung Hospital. Lady Hardinge Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University. However, it was not extended to AIQ seats of state medical and dental colleges.
In order to provide benefits to EWS category students in admission to higher educational institutions, a constitutional amendment was made in 2019, which provided for 10 percent reservation for the category, the statement said.
Accordingly, the number of seats in medical and dental colleges was increased in the next two years (2019-20 and 2020-21) to accommodate this additional 10 percent EWS reservation so that the total number of seats available for the unreserved category would not be reduced. Ho.
In AIQ seats, however, this benefit has not been extended so far, the statement said. Therefore, along with 27 percent reservation for OBCs, 10 percent reservation for EWS in AIQ seats for all undergraduate/postgraduate medical/dental courses from the current academic year 2021-22 is also being extended. At the same time, he said, the above decision is a reflection of the commitment of the government to provide proper reservation for backward and EWS category students.
In the last six years, the number of MBBS seats in the country has increased by 56 percent from 54,348 in 2014 to 84,649 in 2020 and the number of PG seats has increased from 30,191 in 2014 to 54,275 in 2020. In the same period, 179 new medical colleges have been established and there are currently 558 (289 government and 269 private) medical colleges in the country.
(With agency input)
