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Reservation issue : Phased introduction of OBC quota - PM has his way |
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A Bill seeking to reserve 27 per cent seats for students belonging to other backward classes (OBCs) in central and aided educational institutions of higher learning was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the last day of the Monsoon session. Introducing the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said it would benefit millions of students belonging to the socially and economically weaker sections. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee announced that the Bill will be referred to the Department-related standing committing for fine tuning. It will then be put forward in its final form in the Winter session of Parliament.
The Bill provides for a mandatory increase in the number of seats in central educational institutions to be attained over a maximum period of three years beginning from the 2007 academic session. The Bill is applicable to central universities, IITs and IIMs, but certain institutions engaged in nuclear and fundamental research are exempt. The Bill envisages 27 per cent reservation for OBCs, besides 15 per cent for the scheduled castes and 7.5 per cent for the scheduled tribes. There is no mention of the creamy layer which would also presumably come within the reservation ambit.
Earlier, the Union Cabinet at its meeting on Monday, August 21 cleared the Bill. Reports say there was a serious and purposeful discussion at the meeting on various provisions of the Bill. It was decided that the Bill will incorporate three of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s major concerns on the issue.
Dr. Singh’s three concerns are: (a) there should be no dilution in the existing seats and opportunities available in the “non-reserved” categories; (b) the extension of the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs should be staggered to ensure that the requisite infrastructure was in place; and (c) that certain institutions of “national/strategic” importance were kept out of the reservation regime.
The meeting began with T.R. Baalu, Minister for Shipping, making a case for a total and complete changeover to new reservation regime for the OBCs.
Baalu passionately cited “centuries of injustice” that had been the OBCs’ lot and argued that the Backward Classes were not asking for a “backlog” compensation but were merely demanding correction of the injustice.
The DMK Minister got vocal support from Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, Chemical and Fertilizers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, and Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. Their argument was that 27 per cent reservation must be implemented at once and in one go.
At this stage, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal joined issue. He is said to have pointed out the legal difficulties. Sibal particularly drew the attention of his Cabinet colleagues to the Supreme Court pronouncements on the concept of “creamy layer” and on the need to gradually phase out these strata from the reservation regime.
However, the opinion swung firmly in favour of retaining the “creamy layer” when Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar lent his weight and voice to the Baalu-Ramadoss argument. Railways Minister Lalu Prasad also pitched in favouring the creamy layer.
Emboldened by the Sharad Pawar-Lalu Prasad support, the pro-OBCs Ministers responded with a “why-should-we-care-for-the Supreme Court” argument. This brought in Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj who pointed out that all of them were under an obligation to act within the four corners of the Constitution.
Medicos suspend agitation
Doctors and medical students who had launched an agitation on the reservation issue, suspended it after the Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The agitation by the medicos had badly affected services at two major hospitals in the national capital. There were clashes between the police and the striking medicos during their agitation.
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