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Self-immolation
attempt by anti-quota activist
New
Delhi: The anti-reservation protest took a new turn today
with the self-immolation bid of a 23 year old boy, who claimed
himself to be a medical student, during a 'Dilli aao, desh
bachao' mega rally at the Ramlila Maidan here. Rishi Ranjan
Gupta, the 23-year-old boy, attempted a self- immolation bid
and was admitted at the city's LNJP Hospital with 10 to 20
burns and severe burn scabs on the back. Police, who were
on guard, immediately doused the flames on his body, and rushed
him to the hospital. On being asked the reason for the attempt,
Gupta replied, "this was as a mark of protest against the
reservation policy". Around 10,000 people participated in
the rally being organised under the banner of 'Youth for Equality',
which is said to have no political or violent agenda to protest
against the Centre's decision to incorporate 27 percent reservation
of seats for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met a delegation of
the striking anti-reservation medicos and assured them that
the government would look into their demands with regard to
the reservation issue. Dr. Singh told them not to worry over
shrinking educational opportunities as he foresaw a massive
expansion of the higher education system, which would see
a huge growth in the educational opportunities available to
all classes and categories of students. AIIMS Director P Venugopal,
Health Secretary P C Hota, Principal Advisor to Prime Minister
T K A Nair and a delegation of about 10-12 medical students
from Delhi and other states attended the meeting with the
PM, which lasted for about an hour. The doctors' delegation
also handed over a charter of demands to the Prime Minister.
Earlier,
the medicos had presented a charter of demands to President
Dr. APJ Kalam, who assured the students that he would ensure
that the Government's promise - that the number of general
category seats would not be affected with the quota for OBCs
- is implemented. He also asked the protesting students to
call off their strike and go back to their studies. However,
the talks were stuck on the issue of setting up of a non-political
commission to examine the reservation policy. The UPA co-ordination
committee and the Left parties have decided to implement the
proposal to introduce the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs
in higher educational institutions from June 2007, while increasing
seats for the general category students, and this has outraged
the students.
At
present, government-funded colleges have to allocate 22.5
percent of their seats to students belonging to the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes category. The 27 percent reservation
for the OBC students along with the existing 22.5 percent
reservation 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. This has resulted in widespread
protest across the country by medical, engineering and students
belonging to other disciplines.
Anti-reservation protest in Kolkata