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Anti-quota
stir: Medicos threaten suicide
New
Delhi: A 22-member delegation of striking medicos met
President APJ Abdul Kalam on Wednesday and appealed to him
to not sign the Bill proposing to bring 27 percent reservation
for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in elite educational institutions.
In a move aimed at intensifying their stir, the striking medicos
also called for 'civil disobedience' in Delhi on Thursday,
asking various professional groups like traders, resident
welfare associations, bank personnel, members of bar associations
not to work from 9 am to 12 noon. In addition they have also
threatened to commit suicide, if their demands are not met.
The Delhi Medical Association (DMA) and the Indian Medical
Association is supporting the move. The DMA has also planned
to organise a 'dharna' at the All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) between 11 am and 5 pm to support the anti-quota
agitation. Students have also called for an agitation march
named 'Dilli Chalo' on May 28. The procession is likely to
be taken out from Ramlila Maidan and culminate at Jantar Mantar.
The
Centre's move to implement 27 per cent reservation for the
OBC students from June next year, have further 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 proposed 27 percent
reservation for the OBC students in premier education institutes
across the country 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. Yesterday, the UPA co-ordination committee
and the Left parties 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. But protests have only intensified
over the last few days and many doctors have gone on strike
in support of the demonstrators, crippling healthcare facilities
in many cities.
Kalam
asks medicos to resume duty