BJP Govt. Will Extend Reservations To Private Colleges: Is This A Political Move?

Reservations will now be extended to private institutions from the academic year of 2019, said Prakash Javadekar, Union Human Resources Development Minister.  

Previously, the Government has announced 10% reservation for economically backward people belonging to the general category.

The minister said, “The operation manuals about how to implement the quota will be issued soon. The colleges and universities will also be asked to mention the quota in their prospectus as well and make infrastructural arrangements accordingly. The modalities are being worked out and within a week’s time we will have the exact number of seats that will be added.”

Reservation Game Plan

The government wants to reserve quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and the economically backward classes in private educational institutes.

This quota will add up to 60% of the total seats available across 40,000 colleges and 900 universities throughout the country. The quota will be applicable to institutes that offer technical, non-technical, management, arts, science and commerce.

Apparently, this decision was taken during a meeting between officials of the University Grants Commission, the Human Resource Development ministry and the All India Council for Technical Education. The minister also added that the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission can be availed by the teachers and academic staff of institutions that provide degree-level education.

Is This Decision Part of BJP’s Politics?

This announcement is a piece of great news and will definitely work in favor of the BJP government in the upcoming elections.

Public intellectual Kancha Ilaiah said, “If the BJP government decides to implement the reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs in private educational institutions from this academic session, it would be a major step. It may give the BJP a lot of advantage in the general election of 2019 even if it is stalled in a court of law. This is a policy decision by a right-wing government which had been against such reservation earlier.”

N. Sukumar, who is an Ambedkarite, is of the opinion that the government has taken this step to do good towards the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, who are aggravated by the latest introduction of reservation based on economic backgrounds.

He explained that as private institutions are not funded by the government, they will not heed to this new reservation law passed by the government.

With AICTE banning new colleges from 2020 and the government introducing new reservation criteria, it would be amusing to see how this will pan out.

What is your opinion on this development? Should reservation be extended to private institutions? Do let us know by commenting right here!

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