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Knowledge panel members quit over quota

      New Delhi: Nearly one year after the setting up of the much-talked about Knowledge Commission, it received its first jolt on Monday as two of its members resigned over the Centre's proposed reservation for Other Backward Classes students in higher education. Sociologist Andre Beteille and the member-convener of the commission, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who had already expressed their protest against Government's OBC reservation proposal, submitted their resignation citing, "the entire proposal by Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh over reservation would benefit Congress party and that the Government is keener on showing tokenism rather than providing social justice". The resignations coming on the day when UPA Government completed its two years at Centre and Prime Minister releasing a report card on UPA Government's performance, this could not have been more embarrassing as Mehta said that the quota would politicise education and inject an insidious poison detriment to nation's interests.

     While Mehta in his strong worded four page resignation letter have stated that "the palliative measures the government is contemplating to defuse the resulting agitation and the process employed to arrive at these measures are steps in the wrong direction", Beteille, in his resignation letter, said, "The proposal was a cynical misrepresentation of the Constitution, which doesn't demand caste quotas". The eight-member Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda, has P.M. Bhargava, Nandan Nilekani, Dr. Deepak Nayyar, Ashok Ganguly, Dr. Andre Beteille, Dr. Jayati Ghosh and Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta as its members. On May 8, in a meeting of the Commission on the issue of the reservation, six of the eight members opposed the quota stating that reservation should not be extended as new and more effective avenues of affirmative actions should be explored. However, two members Dr. Jayati Ghosh and Vice Chairman of the Commission P.M. Bhargava disagreed and supported the reservations. The Commission which was set up with the aim of "sharpening India's knowledge edge" came into sharp criticism from the HRD Minister Arjun Singh who said that Knowledge Commission probably did not know about the 93rd Constitutional amendment.

Pro-reservation protestors intensify stir (Go To Top)

      New Delhi/Chennai/Bhubaneswar: As the anti- reservation protests brew in various cities of the country, pro- reservation students too have taken the issue for implementation of Centre's plan for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Castes students. Junior doctors supporting the reservation under the banner "Medico's Forum for Equal Opportunity", staged a silent protest today outside All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in New Delhi. The Forum maintained that anti-reservation protests were an outcome of chauvinism of the upper castes and demanded implementation of the Central Government's plan. "Our agenda is equal opportunity be provided to all the sections of the society for quality education, such that the bogus slogan of merit be abolished all together. Merit is not genetically inherited, it is provided by the society," said Vikas Bajpayee, Convener of Medicos Forum for Equal Opportunities.

Docs' 'blackout' against OBC quota (Go To Top)

         New Delhi/Bhopal: Striking Delhi medicos, who are on an indefinite hunger-strike for the last nine days against Centre's move to reserve seats for OBC students in the country's higher educational institutions, said on Monday that they would observe 'blackout moment' to show their protest later today. Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) have called for a blackout from 8 p.m. (IST) as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) completes its second year in power. "We are observing a blackout moment today, that is from eight o' clock (evening) as the UPA government celebrates its two year of completion at the Centre. It is ironical that today's youth is in complete darkness thanks to them. Our black moment for the day is symbolic for that," Anusha, a junior resident doctor, said. In Bhopal, similar anti-reservation sentiments were echoed as the medicos burnt the government's notices to end the strike. Protestors across the country appealed to general public to lend support to their campaign. The medical students and doctors across the country are protesting a Centre's plan to reserve 27 per cent seats for the Other Backward Castes (OBC) students in the country's state-run medical, engineering and business schools, taking the total reserved places to 49.5 per cent.

     At present, government-funded colleges have to allocate 22.5 percent of their seats to scheduled castes and tribal students. Analysts say, the benefit of reservation has not percolated to a vast section of people, while the creamy layer amongst the backward classes corner all the benefits. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also appealed to the medical students to withdraw the agitation and have faith on government to resolve the matter amicably and fairly to the satisfaction of all. The medicos, however, rejected the appeal, but appear to be agreeable to a climb down.'