Will extend SEBC quota to medical, engineering courses too, says Odisha BJP
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Manmohan Samal on Tuesday said the government is taking steps to extend the 11.25% reservation for students from the Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) in medical, technical and engineering courses.
Samal, who was responding to criticism by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over the implementation of the 11.25% quota that does not cover medical and technical courses, questioned why the previous BJD and Congress governments hadn't notified the SEBC (which is interchangeably used for OBC in Odisha) quota for admission to educational institutions.
'Though Congress and BJD were in government for a long time, they could not implement it. BJP is consistently in support of the Mandal Commission. We announced 11.25 % reservation in higher education this month. We would soon extend the same to professional courses like MBBS, BDS, B Tech, Diploma, B. Sc (Agriculture), MCA and other such courses,' Samal told a press conference at the BJP state headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
On May 14, the Mohan Charan Majhi cabinet cleared a proposal for 11.25% quota for SEBC studentsfor admission to state public universities and government-aided institutions under various departments.
BJD and Congress leaders questioned why the decision did not cover admission to technical and medical courses.
'Without admission in MBBS and engineering colleges, the quota would serve no purpose as getting seats in general education institutions is not an issue. There are numerous vacant seats in general undergraduate and postgraduate courses, rendering the reservation less meaningful,' said BJD legislator Arun Sahoo.
The BJD plans a massive protest in the state on Wednesday to demand 27% reservation of seats for the SEBC students.
Odisha has 1,600 MBBS seats and 4,000 engineering seats in government colleges. Of these, 12 % seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribe students and another 8% for Scheduled Caste students. If the government extends the 11.25 % reservation of SEBC students in such colleges, the total reservation would be 31.25 %.
State SC/ST minister Nityanand Gond who was also present at the BJP press conference on Wednesday said the government was considering whether it should increase the number of seats in government medical and engineering colleges in view of the increase in reservation.
Congress leader Srikant Jena welcomed the idea of extending SEBC quotas to professional courses but stressed that 11.25% falls short of the 27% recommended by the Mandal Commission.
'Odisha is the only state which did not implement the Mandal Commission recommendations and now the state government does not seem to be in a mood to implement it fully. At the same time, the SC/ST quota should go up to 38% in proportion with their population in the state,' said Jena.
The Odisha BJP president said opposition BJD and Congress did not implement SEBC reservation in higher education institutions for decades but were trying to confuse people when the BJP had started the process
Samal said the BJP will keep all its promises made in the 2024 manifesto. 'The caste census would be conducted for the benefit of backward classes. The state government and the party are working in coordination to ensure justice to SEBC students,' he said.
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