The reservation is in line with objectives of empowerment, upliftment and will prove to be transformational towards nation building through education
The Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019 Bill seeking additional reservations was passed by Parliament on 9th January and is now notified by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The new act allows the government to reserve seats for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among those in the unreserved category and the proponents have hailed it as a ‘revolutionary decision to deliver economic justice’.
The HRD Minister has announced that the modalities are being worked out and the exact number of seats that will be added in institutions of higher education within a week’s time. With the above two developments, the road for extension of reservations for SCs, STs, OBCs and economically weaker sections in the general category will now soon be open from the new academic session starting July 2019.
The income criteria for the EWS quota are as for the OBC creamy layer. In other words, a person whose family has a gross annual income below Rs 8 lakh will be identified as a beneficiary. The ‘family’ includes the person who seeks the benefit of reservation, his/ her parents, and siblings below the age of 18 years, his / her spouse, and children below the age of 18 years.
With the changes now it is certain that from June 2019-2020 academic admission sessions will have new reservation implemented while keeping intact the existing SC, ST and OBC reservation. It at least seems that no one’s reservation is being abolished and an additional 10 percent reservation is been given to EWS of general category. The government has promised to effect the new reservations by creating additional seats and we are told that the necessary orders will be soon released by the UGC, AICTE and the MHRD. In June, when institutions opens for next session, around thousand of seats will be there under ten percent reservation in institutions like IIT, IIIT, NIT, central universities and others.
Going by the announcements and law of fair justice, the number of additional seats to be created must be more than 10 percent and only then all sections will get the benefit in correct proportion. It is thus expected that number of seats in all institutions could rise by as much as 20 percent so that it will create space for EWS candidates without reducing the number of seats meant for other student sections. As per the conservative estimates close to 3 million new seats will have to be created in 25,000 odd colleges and around 6,500 stand-alone government and government-aided institutions in the country.
The other issue that is being debated is whether the new reservations will apply for private and unaided institutions as well. Though the government expects private universities and colleges will have to provide the 10 percent EWS quota as well as for those from the scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs), and other backward classes (OBCs) from academic session 2019-20 itself, it may not be possible unless one more bill is introduced to that effect.
Currently, student reservation is provided in many private institutions although it is not mandatory under a central law. If the government shows its seriousness to apply the new rules to unaided bodies it will soon have to plan for an introduction of other bill in the forthcoming budget session of Parliament to make it necessary for all private colleges to create not just the EWS quota, but also force those that currently do not have a SC, ST, OBC quota to introduce these. Then the respective state assemblies will have to do the same. The unaided private institutions currently do not provide SC, ST, and OBC quota after the Allahabad High Court ruled in a case in 2011 that they do not need to.
Legal experts have a basis to suggest that even the EWS quota will not apply to unaided private institutions as the challenge of the Allahabad court’s decision is before the Supreme Court. Further assuming that all necessary will necessarily be done, the question still remain whether the move will be successful as the EWS will still find the fees of private institutions high and unreasonable.
The third point to deal with is as to how the government would deal with the situation in the IIT/IIM’s where admission tests for the 2019-20 batch has already been conducted or commenced by now. Given that the additional seats still have to be created to give an effect to the new quota the students’ option for such entrance tests will continue to be in a tizzy. Needless to say additional seats entail additional faculty, additional infrastructure and additional funding. Even if one assumes that financing added infrastructure is s not a constraint, the question is about the time factor involved and availability of qualified faculty. Currently, the annual intake of central institutions including institutes of national importance such as IITs, NITs and IIMs, Central Universities, Central Open University, colleges and government and government-aided deemed universities is 9.28 lakh seats. Although central institutions will be permitted to stagger the proposed increase, it is unclear in how many years they will have to wrap up implementation.
The survey carried out by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for the National Academy of Sciences and data collected from the IIT/AIIMS’s across the three States in 2008 had reported overwhelming support for policy of reservation in higher education and stated reservations compensates for inequalities faced by the SC, ST, OBC’s and the minorities.
The EWS reservation move is certainly in line with the objectives of social empowerment, upliftment of weaker sections of society and will prove to be a transformational step towards building the nation through inclusive educational opportunities. Such an affirmative action will have to continue until the existing inequalities in terms of access to quality education are removed.
