Reservation Quota

In a statement demanding reservations for backward Muslims in the country, the National Congress Party’s national general secretary Tariq Anwar, not only applauded the Supreme Court's interim decision granting permission to Andhra Pradesh for providing 4 percent reservation for backward Muslims in jobs and education; he also took the opportunity to criticize the ABVP for protesting against the Bihar government’s plan of opening up the state branch of Aligarh Muslim University in Kishanganj district.

Even as UP government’s regulated law of providing reservation quota for SCs/STs/OBCs in private institutions including engineering and medical colleges is facing challenges, the central government has decided to support the state government’s move. The HRD ministry (MHRD) sources revealed that the government is supporting the law because it was within the provisions of Article 15 (5) of the Constitution.

The HRD ministry (MHRD) has proposed two kinds of reservation policy in its concept note on the setting of 14 Innovation Universities where some of these varsities will be directly funded by the government and some will be funded in public-private participation (PPP) mode.

Remarking on the educational privileges that the so-called ‘under-privileged’ sections of Kerala society has been enjoying for so long, the Kerala High Court in its landmark judgment made on Wednesday said that the government's ‘over indulgence’ in providing such benefits would only ‘stunt the growth’ of such communities.

Defying the constitutional restriction that forbids Christian and Muslim Dalits access to reservation, the Ranganath Commission has recommended Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Hindu converts to Christianity and Islam. The Commission also seeks a 10 percent reservation for Muslims and 5 percent for other minorities in government jobs. 

It seems that after much deliberation by the government and protests by the minority groups the government is finally showing signs of relenting. It is likely that in the coming months the government shall amend the Right to Education Act and plug the quota and local representative loop holes, so vehemently objected to by the minority bodies.

As the government has started implementing its plan to set up 14 central universities across the nation, demands for reservations and quotas too have started piling in. Making a similar such demand, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, while speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of the central university at Thiruvarur, urged the government to ensure a 50 percent seat reservation for students from rural areas in all central universities.

As new developments take place in the Indian education sector’s laws and norms, it is becoming evident that foreign universities and educational institutes, planning to set up campus in India shall be free from the mandatory quota law for SC/ST and OBC, binding all other government run institutions in India.

The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has chosen to take in the unoccupied management quota seats of both private engineering colleges (Single Window-II) and Christian minority colleges (Single Window- III) under the convener quota.

Having crossed the hurdle of bringing a reservation quota of 50 percent for students belonging to Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/ST) and other backward classes (OBC) in private technical educational institutes; the Mayavati Government now has its eyes set on the next target. New on its agenda is the implementation of fee concession for these categories of students in the private colleges.