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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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