OBC, EWS quotas cut PG med seats for gen category by 42% 2-Yr Rotational Rule To Also Hit Students Hard

 

OBC, EWS quotas cut PG med seats for gen category by 42%

2-Yr Rotational Rule To Also Hit Students Hard

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Hemali.Chhapia@timesgroup.com

15.01.2022

Mumbai: Competition for post-graduate medical seats just got intense. The implementation of the 27% other backward classes (OBC) and 10% economically weaker section (EWS) quota in the all-India seats has had a huge impact on post-graduate seats for the 2022 academic year.

As the seat matrix was released by the medical counselling committee on Friday, student intake in the general category has seen a 42% reduction, or 2,747 seats. In 2021, the all-India quota had 6,556 spots for open merit students. This year, those numbers are down to 3,809.

Moreover, what will make the admission process even tougher is that a general rule that was applicable till last year will no longer be possible now: If a particular branch in a public medical school has four seats, of which 50% or two will be for the all-India quota (AIQ), an open category candidate will now get a chance to join it once in two years as rotational reservation will be put in place. ›

No general seats

Earlier, if any department had two seats in the all-India quota, we made sure that one seat was available for an open category candidate. The other seat would be rotated among the reserved categories, just SC (scheduled castes) and ST (scheduled tribes) till last year. Now, the general category candidate will get that chance once in two years,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, former head of Directorate of Medical Education and Research.

For instance, at B J Government Medical College, Pune, there is no seat for a general category candidate who may want to pursue MD in physiology. Of the two seats available, one opened up for OBC and the other for ST. The wait for an open category candidate just got longer and despite the scores, there won’t be an open spot. Or, at Government Sivagangai Medical College, Tamil Nadu, there is not a single seat for MS (general surgery) for an open category student; one opened for SC. Several colleges which have fewer seats in certain branches will not be able to offer any seat to general category candidates this year. MD medicine, a clinical branch, which had 736 seats, now has 394. An analysis of the seat matrix shows a popular branch such as paediatrics, which had 475 seats last year, has 295 openings for general category candidates with no seat in several colleges such as Government Medical College, Ernakulam.

Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, said admission season this year is rather pressured. “Candidates have the scores but seats have reduced. Cut-off scores will rise several notches. Students who planned to join certain colleges are waking up to the rude reality that the seat that was to be made available to the category is not there.” Many parents say increasing quota in government colleges pushes several meritorious candidates to deemed universities (no reservation) and private colleges.