The Central Government on Thursday approved a scheme to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) under the All India Quota (AIQ) of seats for admission to medical courses.
In such a situation, 27 per cent of reservations will be given to OBC and 10 per cent to EWS during admission to medical colleges across the country. The government has said that the new reservation system will be implemented from this year itself.
What is the AIQ scheme?
The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the direction of the Supreme Court. Its objective was to enable the students of other states to benefit from reservations in other states. Till the year 2008, no reservation was being given in the All India Quota Scheme. In 2007, the Supreme Court introduced 15 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes and 7.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribes in the AIQ scheme.
Prime Minister Modi tweeted and called the decision historic
In this matter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, ‘A historic decision has been taken by the government in medical education in the country. Under All India Quota, 27 per cent reservation will be given to OBC students and 10 per cent to weaker income group (EWS) students in undergraduate/postgraduate, medical and dental education,”
He further wrote, ‘This will immensely help thousands of our youth every year get better opportunities and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.’
Central list of OBC will be used for reservations: Modi
Prime Minister Modi said the OBC students across the country will now be able to take advantage of this reservation in AIQ scheme to compete for seats in medical colleges of any state. Being a central scheme, the central list of OBCs will be used for this reservation.
Until now, OBC and EWS category students in medical colleges were not getting the required number of admissions without reservation.
After the government’s decision, now OBC and EWS students will get reservations in admission in medical colleges for admission to undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma level medical courses. All India quota will get this benefit from 2021-22. This will now benefit OBC 1,500 students of MBBS and 2,500 students in graduation. Similarly, EWS general castes 550 students will get MBBS, and 1,000 students will benefit from the undergraduate course.
Prime Minister Modi recently held a meeting on reservations for the OBC and EWS category in medical colleges. In which he took information on this matter from the Ministry of Health and Education. After this, Prime Minister Modi had asked Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to resolve the issue without delay. After which, it was believed that soon the government could announce the reservation.