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  The Oversight Committee submitted their proposals to the Federal Government proposing that the contentious 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) be reviewed in another 5 years and again after a decade to determine the relevance of the policy.
 

 

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The Oversight Committee submitted their proposals to the Federal Government proposing that the contentious 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) be reviewed in another 5 years and again after a decade to determine the relevance of the policy. Announcing this proposal, Chairman of the Committee Veerappa Moily said that his panel had proposed a staggered implementation of reservation over three years.

Called the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006, the panel recommended reservation for OBCs at all central institution other than those run by minority communities to start from next year. With this fiat, all centrally funded institutions will provide an action plan to be approved by "appropriate authority" on implementation and asking for necessary finances and time as necessary. Further, these institutions will also be required to justify delays or staggered implementation. Per this plan, all centrally funded institutions will have 54% increase in seats over 3 years so that the total number of seats in the general category does not fall below the present 50%.

Given the political inferno, Moily said that the Oversight Committee has "left the creamy layer issue to the Government" even thought the interim report said that the final report would advise mechanisms to deal with the creamy layer. This is in reference to children of rich, educated, senior officials of the Government and private sector, and influential parents. The politicians do not want any restrictions for these children as it would directly impact their own families.

The new plan would cost Rs. 17,200 crore (USD 3.7 billion) over the next 5 years and has robbed millions of poor children a "right to education." Apart from reservations, OBC students will also get scholarships from grade 9 and will also go through remedial courses once they secure admission in these institutions. To accommodate more students, the recommendation is to start three more Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management like institutions. The Human Resourced Development Ministry has already decided to give the status of IIT to 10 National Institutes of Technology colleges.

A simultaneous lawsuit in the Supreme Court (SC) is in progress to question the validity of this very issue. Unless that is resolved, the Constitutional validity of this proposal is in jeopardy. Other ministers of the Federal Government have started talking about reservation in the private sector and some politicians in states like Karnataka are demanding reservation for local citizens. None of these proposals are bound to be acceptable to the SC.

Meanwhile, it is unclear if the current reservation system is even working. A self-serving study sponsored by the OC implemented by Bangalore University personnel on outcome of Visvesvaraya Technological University found that in states like Karnataka which have a 32% reservation already for the OBC, could fill only 21.17% to 29.69%. Further, in the 18% reservation for Scheduled Classes and Scheduled Tribes category, the University could fill only 5.35% and 6.66% respectively. With even 3rd tier colleges not able to complete the quota for OBC, it is unclear how the OC plans to fill the newly created seats in premier institutions.