NE excluded from quota regime

New Delhi: While Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh left all Quota Bill opponents kicking and screaming as he bulldozed the controversial legislation through Parliament on Thursday, he did spring a surprise by leaving the Northeast completely out of the purview of Act.

There is no clarity though whether or not IIT-Guwahati will be exempted from the quota Act.

There were demands from various circles to exclude the elite institutions like the AIIMs, IIMs and IITs from the OBC quota. But Arjun Singh heeded none. Rather the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006, providing for 27 per cent reservation to OBCs, will be applicable to all Central Universities, IITs and IIMs and certain other institutions established, maintained or aided by the Central government, the minister announced. The OBC quota will be over and above the 15 per cent reservation for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs.

The Bill defines OBCs as a class or classes of citizens who are socially and educationally backward and are so determined by the Central Government.

"The institutions in the North-East have been excluded from the measure as the region is predominantly tribal," the HRD Minister said. This also includes the North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Science, Shillong, developed on the lines of AIIMS.

There are also a few other institutions that have been excluded from the quota purview. They include National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Gurgaon, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.

Eight institutions of excellence, including Homi Bhabha National Institute and its constituent units like Bhabha Atomic Research Centre as also Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, have also been excluded from the quota regime.

The provisions of the Bill will not apply to minority educational institutions as well. The minister did not see any merit in the argument of BJP members that the exclusion of minority institutions would hamper the entry of minority Dalits or OBCs in these institutions.

Interestingly, except for a few voices expressing reservation over the reservation bill, the Members of Parliament generally hailed the quota measures. A few members even described it as 'revolutionary' while others sought reservation also in the private sector as well as the judiciary.

The bill has not excluded 'Creamy Layer' even though the Parliamentary Standing Committee for HRD had favoured that this segment should be covered only after giving priority to non-creamy among the backwards.