‘27% OBC, 10% EWS quota to take effect from 2021-22 session’

NEET (UG)

‘27% OBC, 10% EWS quota to take effect from 2021-22 session’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  31.07.2021 

The National Testing Agency in a public notice to the NEET (UG) 2021 aspirants stated that the decision of the government to implement 27% OBC reservation (non-creamy layer) and 10% EWS reservation in 15% undergraduate all India quota (AIQ) seats will take effect from the 2021-22 academic session, on Friday.

The agency notified its information bulletin stands modified based on the new reservation structure for admission to undergraduate medical courses under AIQ which would comprise of 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, 27% for OBC (non-creamy layer as per central list), 10% for EWS category as per central government norms and 5% for persons with disabilities (PwD) “horizontal reservation as per National Medical Commission norms.”

When the government succeeded in introducing a 10% EWS quota in higher education institutions in 2019 the total intake in the medical colleges increased between 16% to 22%. For example, the total MBBS seats in government medical seats in Andhra Pradesh increased from 1,700 to 2020, which is 21.2% increase in 2019-20. Similarly, in Assam the total seats increased from 726 to 900, which was 24%.

However, according to a senior health ministry official, no such increase in seats will be done while implementing the 27% OBC reservation during the forthcoming academic session. The official said that respective states have already increased the seats from 2015 as part of the reservation.

“There is no need for an increase of seats due to the implementation of the 27% OBC reservation in AIQ as the states had already increased the seats in the last few years and OBC seats had been accounted for. So the 15% states’ contribution to the AIQ is already inclusive of that quota which we need to implement during the counselling. Moreover, even otherwise the process for increase of seats takes around a year,” said the official.

The directorate of health services too on Thursday notified for the benefit of the eligible candidates that 27% of the OBC reservation and 10% EWS reservation in 15% undergraduate and 50% postgraduate AIQ seats (MBBS/ BDS and MD/ MS/ MDS) contributed by the State/ UTs would commence from the 2021-22 session of counselling.