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Reservation stir resumes

      New Delhi: A large number of students and medicos hit the streets of the capital on Tuesday to protest Monday night's Cabinet decision to clear the controversial Other Backward Class (OBC) Reservation Bill for presentation during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The bill seeks to provide 27 percent reservation for OBC students in Government-aided higher educational institutes, and the UPA regime's aim is to table it before the Monsoon Session concludes on August 25. Students and medicos gathered in the heart of the capital and shouted anti-government slogans, besides calling for a reversal of the Cabinet decision. Students from Indraprastha University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, IIT-Delhi and from medical colleges also warned that they would leave no stone unturned to force the government to reconsider its decision. According to the medicos, they had called off their agitation earlier due to a Supreme Court directive. Therefore, it was now the responsibility of the apex court to tell the government to reconsider its decision as the matter of reservations was subjudice. Agitators were also planning to take legal advice on the matter and knock the doors of apex court on Wednesday. The Union Cabinet late on Monday cleared the OBC reservation Bill that will provide reservation to Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes and Other Backward Class students in the Central Educational Institutes and Universities deemed as Central and Government aided one.

    The decision was announced by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Das Munshi after deliberations lasting two and half hours. The Bill cleared by the Cabinet provides scope for a staggered implementation of the reservation and have limited it to only Government aided institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) for the time being, apart from all central universities. However, the Bill is silent on the "creamy layer", the privileged section among the OBC, but there are television reports that the creamy layer may be kept out of the reservation scope. The decision to go for a staggered approach is in sync to the Veerappa Moily Oversight Committee's interim report that also called for applying the reservation in a phase-wise manner. The committee had sighted academic, financial and physical limitations to introduce the quota in one go.

      Meanwhile, the final report of the Oversight Committee is expected to be submitted by August 31, enabling the Government to implement reservations in higher education institutions in a phased manner. The Bill would make the implementation of the said reservation to begin from the next academic session 2007-08. The Oversight Committee has stated that Rs 16000 crore would be required immediately to enable Government-aided institutions to upgrade their infrastructure to implement the quota. The up-gradation will be done as the number of seats has to be increased in these institutions so as it does not affect the general category seats. The Bill has been revised and split into two parts segregating aided and unaided institutions and excludes specialized courses or programmes at the post-doctoral level from the ambit of the quota. The Bill also makes a case for exemption of two categories of institutions: minority institutions and institutions in tribal regions.

BJP rally for quota in minority institutions

      New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday took out a rally to step-up its demand for granting reservation benefits to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in minority educational institutions. Addressing the rally organised by the party's 's SC/SCT Cell, BJP senior leader M Vankaiah Naidu said that the party will raise the demand in the Parliament. "We will raise this issue in Parliament. There should be uniformity in all educational establishments in granting these benefits," he said. Naidu accused the ruling coalition for polarising society by refusing reservation benefits to SCs and STs in minority educational establishments. "This is sheer polarisation if you have reservations only in Hindu institutions and not in Christian or Muslim institutions," he said. The OBC reservation Bill cleared by the Cabinet on Monday night for presentation in the Monsoon session of the Parliament provides reservation to SC, ST and Other Backward Class students in the Central Educational Institutes and Universities deemed as Central and Government aided one. But, the Bill exempts minority institutions and institutions in tribal regions from reservation. The Bill cleared by the Cabinet provides scope for a staggered implementation of the reservation and have limited it to only Government aided institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) for the time being, apart from all central universities. The Bill has been revised and split into two parts segregating aided and unaided institutions and excludes specialized courses or programmes at the post-doctoral level from the ambit of the quota.

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