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Medicos intensify anti-quota stir
by Kumar Saurav

      New Delhi: Intensifying the stir against the proposed reservation in elite educational institutions, college students, parents of agitating students, doctors and lawyers joined striking junior and resident medicos in a massive protest rally in the national capital on Saturday. Cricketer-turned-politician and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, extending support to the demand of the medicos, also participated in the rally, saying that caste-based reservation was absolutely wrong and selections to institutions of education should be on the basis of merit. Over 1,500 people from various sections came together for the protest march, which has been organised under the banner of 'Youth for Equality' from Maulana Azad Medical College in Central Delhi to Jantar Mantar - a stretch of nearly 2-km. The march has been peaceful so far. "This is a peaceful procession and we want that the Government should rollback the proposed reservation," said Rakesh Kumar, a leader of 'Youth for Equality', adding, "We will continue the protest unless some concrete decision is taken on the issue". The protesters held up banners against the quota system and formed human chain to express solidarity with the cause.

     On the seventh day of their agitation, the medicos are demanding a complete rollback of the proposed 27.5 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in central educational institutions and review of the existing reservation policy. The protesting students and doctors argue they are not against backward classes, but abhor the idea of discrimination.

    Meanwhile, a Group of Ministers headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee is reportedly thrashing out a mechanism through which the reservations can be implemented without comprising students applying in the general category. The Group of Ministers will submit its report to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh some time this evening for further deliberation and action. The Centre is toying with the idea of a three-year timeframe for implementation of quotas for historically underprivileged in state-fund educational institutions in a phased manner. On Thursday, during their meeting with Union Minister Oscar Fernandes, the students rejected the Centre's proposal for increasing the seats in general category and demanded a complete rollback of the OBC quota proposal.

    At present, government-funded colleges have to allocate 22.5 percent of their seats to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. The proposed 27 percent reservation for the OBC students with the existing 22.5 percent would take the total seats under the quota category to nearly 50 percent, leaving only half of the total seats for the General category students The Delhi government has deployed Army doctors in the state-run hospitals where medical services were badly hit during the anti- quota stir.

Pro and anti-quota students clash in Delhi

       New Delhi: A skirmish broke out in an elite university in the capital between students backing federal government's move to reserve more college seats for socially backward and those opposing it on Friday night. The divide between pro and anti reservation students came into sharp focus when both the factions clashed inside the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) leaving at least three wounded. The clash began when an anti-quota march by students from JNU and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the country's premiere engineering college, came face-to-face with a pro-reservation march. "Our peace march had been scheduled for today, our pamphlets were all around the university. But Leftists (who are pro-reservation) chose the same day to carry out their own protest and clashed with us. They resorted to violence. But it was not just physical violence; it was mental violence as well. They began shouting slogans as we lit the candles," said Shweta, a JNU student. IIT students alleged that when they arrived at the university to express solidarity with the students observing a peaceful protest against reservation, the other faction mobbed them forcing them to flee. "We came here to stage a peaceful protest. But pro-reservation students became violent and mobbed us. Since we were only twenty or so we were out numbered and we had to leave. JNU students who are anti-reservation tried to protect us but by that time we were mobbed," said Arpit Bhandari, an IIT student.

     Though India has banned caste discrimination, the ancient Hindu system remains powerful and causes violence in rural areas. In 1990, after the government decided to increase the quota for lower castes in government jobs, dozens of upper caste students burnt themselves to death.

Bhopal residents join anti-quota stir

      Bhopal: Bhopal's intellectuals, poets and social organisations today joined students in their protest against the government's decision to provide 27 percent reservation to other backward classes in educational institutions. "Nothing can be more embarrassing for a country than the fact that the doctors and engineers are protesting across the country and the government is not doing anything about it, " said Manjar Bhopali, poet. Students demanded a clarification from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his stand on the issue. "We want the government to give us a clear reason that, why they are increasing the reservation without reviving it? Why are the politician scared to get treatment in the country, why do they run out of country to get the treatment. If they don't have faith on Indian doctors then they should take steps to produce more qualified doctors in spite of giving reservation. We want PM to come out and clarify his stand on this matter, President should step in this as well. Reservation should be provided on economic basis. Everyone is blaming us that our strikes are affecting the medical services across the country but the real culprit is the government," said Manish Rawat, medical student. Medicos say that people are blaming us for disrupting the medical services but the real culprit is the government. Students also requested President APJ Abdul Kalam to step in to sort out the matter.