Terming it a 'landmark' decision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the move will 'immensely' help thousands of youth every year.
The Central government Thursday announced a 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year, 2021-22.
“This decision would benefit every year nearly 1500 OBC students in MBBS and 2500 OBC students in postgraduation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1000 EWS students in postgraduation,” a statement issued by the health ministry said.
Terming it a ‘landmark’ decision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the move will ‘immensely’ help thousands of youth every year.
In a tweet, he said, “Our Government has taken a landmark decision for providing 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Section in the All India Quota Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses from the current academic year. This will immensely help thousands of our youth every year get better opportunities and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.”
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting held on 26th July (Monday),2021 had directed the concerned Union Ministries to facilitate an effective solution to this long-pending issue,” the statement said.
Following this move, OBC students from across the country shall now be able to take the benefit of this reservation in the AIQ scheme to compete for seats in any state.
The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the Supreme Court’s directions to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any state aspiring to study in a good medical college in another state.
The all-India quota consists of 15 per cent of the total available UG seats and 50 per cent of the total available PG seats in government medical colleges.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also lauded the move as a “historic decision”. “A historic decision has been taken by the government in the field of medical education in the country. Under All India Quota, 27 per cent reservation will be given to OBC students and 10 per cent to weaker income group (EWS) students in undergraduate/postgraduate, medical and dental education,” he said in a tweet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed policymakers in the domain of education and skill development to mark one year of the National Education Policy 2020. On Thursday, Modi had launched the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Education Technology Forum (NETF) today.
(Inputs from PTI)
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