'Vote bank politics in quota'

      Kanpur: The proposed reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in higher education institutes, including IITs and IIMs, is facing strong opposition from the student community across the country. Talking to media persons, majority of the students opposed the proposed reservation policy. "The proposed 27 percent reservation in IIMs, IITs and Central universities will take the overall reserved seats to almost 50 percent. One can see the condition. If such things happen, they will have to give reservation for the general category also," said Prabhakar, a student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.

     Some students have been sceptic about the proposed move and have even charged the government of playing vote bank politics. "If you keep on increasing the reservations, it will be a complete disaster for the nation. We have been giving reservation for the past 50 years but there is no development in the status of those minority or so-called back ward classes. Actually the medicine is not working so we need to introspect ourselves in order to find out a permanent solution of the problem instead of doing such kind of vote bank politics," said Kartik, another IIT student. Other students also expressed similar views. "The backward community should also think that they have been given a tag of reserved class. Reservation cannot help any community except few politicians that too for a short period," said Mohit Shrivastav, a student.

      However, some of the students came with suggestions for the interest of the suppressed classes. "The government should make reservation policy in such a way that it should decrease the quota category in a gradual manner. It should work towards the mental development of the minorities so that their competence level could increase. They can create more opportunities for them," said a student. The Election Commission has already sought an explanation from Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh for making the proposal at the time when five states go to the Assembly polls. The reservation issue has sparked debate across the country and business tycoons like Ratan Tata have also expressed disappointment at this move by the government, saying it could spark another wave of brain drain for the country. Analysts fear the plan could trigger a second "Mandal Commission" fiasco, which had seen possibly one of the country's biggest student outrage with many even killing themselves, in protest against the 1990 report which had brought in higher quotas in jobs for the backward classes.

     Educational experts feel this could lead to shifting of talented students to foreign universities of the United Kingdom and Europe. According to a recent survey there has been a growth of 11 percent Indian students in American universities and about 80,000-85,000 are there. And next to come is U.K., which has seen a rise of 14 percent since last year. Union Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh had on Wednesday said that Parliament has passed a law regarding reservation and it was the responsibility of the government to implement it. But there has been no response from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) over the issue. Arjun Singh had said the policy would apply to all institutions in the country, including premier institutions like the IITs, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and medical colleges. The Indian Constitution had provided quota for education and jobs in state funded organisations for socially backward castes and tribes, initially for 10 years. But over the years, the quota system continued unabated, with more and more castes being added to the list. India had provided for additional reservation of 27 per cent for 'other backward classes' in government employments and educational institutions in 1990 based on the report of the Mandal Commission, which had examined the issue.

Arjun Singh denies violating model code of conduct

      New Delhi: Denying to have violated the model code of conduct through a reservation proposal in the country's higher education institutions, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today termed the Election Commission communication on the issue as "unfortunate". According to Election Commission sources, in his reply to the Commission, Singh said, "It is unfortunate that the Commission has issued the communication to the Cabinet Secretary merely on the basis of what it calls 'various reports appearing in the electronic and print media' and has concluded that the alleged announcement 'amounts to new concession to certain sections of the electorate' in the five states". Singh said that "there was no announcement of any concession much less any other breach of the model code of conduct...There is no basis even for a prima facie view to that effect". A decision of the Central government with regard to percentage of reservation of seats is yet to be taken, Singh told the Commission. Yesterday, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and the Election Commission had sought explanation on the reservation issue. The EC had objected the proposal of 27 percent quota for OBCs in Central Government-funded educational institutions. While Kalam had categorically said that there is no room for reservations of this kind and advised the government that it should think of increasing the number of seats, the Election Commission has described the move as a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct and sought an explanation from Arjun Singh on the issue. The UPA Government has proposed the 27 percent reservation for the OBC students, in the higher education that would include premier institutes like IIT and IIMs.

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