₹8L income bar for EWS not over-inclusive, Centre tells SC

₹8L income bar for EWS not over-inclusive, Centre tells SC

New Delhi:27.10.2021

Facing questions from the SC over the rationality for fixing an income limit of Rs 8 lakh for EWS quota, which is the same for OBCs, the Centre said the determination cannot be a mathematical formula, suggesting the matter be left to the government, reports Amit Anand Choudhary.

Stating that the criteria was on the basis of the Sinho commission report, which had in 2010 suggested that the creamy layer benchmark for OBCs be adopted for EWS, the Centre said setting different limits on the basis of cost of living and per capita income was not feasible.

Checks to ensure only needy avail EWS benefits

Allaying the apprehension that the Rs 8 lakh limit is too high for people from the general category — which does not suffer from social and educational backwardness that are grounds for OBC reservation — and would result in over-inclusiveness, the Centre said there are other checks to ensure only needy people avail the EWS benefits in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions.

Responding to the court’s query on why the same income limit be applied across the country despite a rural-urban divide and different per capita income in different states, the government indicated that a certain subjectivity might be inevitable and said, “The determination has to be made on broad probabilities and it is impossible to achieve perfection/mathematical precision”.

“It is submitted that the principle of fixation of Rs 8 lakh as a criteria for determination of EWS as also for determination of creamy lawyer in the OBC category is rational and in keeping with Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution. The exercise conducted to determine the creamy layer for the purpose of OBC reservation would be equally applicable for determination of EWS category,” the affidavit said.

Can’t force outside students to learn Kannada, says HC

Can’t force outside students to learn Kannada, says HC

State Gets Time To Reconsider Policy For Degree Course

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:27.10.2021

Students coming from outside Karnataka cannot be compelled to learn Kannada language, be it classical or functional, the high court on Tuesday orally observed, granting time to the state government to reconsider the issue.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi adjourned the hearing to November 10 vis-a-vis a petition challenging two government orders making Kannada a compulsory subject for degree students, following a request from advocate-general Prabhuling K Navadgi.

“With the understanding that the government will reconsider the issue, we adjourn the matter,” the division bench orally said. Earlier, the advocate general said people have to learn Kannada for employment purpose and they need not learn Kannada in a classical sense and he would get more instructions in the matter.

However, the bench queried as to how the state government can compel a student coming from outside to learn Kannada and added that the state government has to reconsider the issue and the court will grant time for the same. Senior advocate SS Naganand, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, told the court that the academic year had already commenced and students will have to make a choice.

Orders take away freedom to choose language: Petitioners

Samskrita taka) Trust Bharati , Bengaluru (Karna , - and three other institutions associated with the promotion of Sanskrit language/ study have filed this petition, challenging the validity of government orders dated August 7, 2021 and September 15, 2021, saying it goes against National Education Policy.

The petitioners have sought declaration to the effect that NEP 2020 does not impose any restriction upon the student to choose any particular language as part of the curricula for higher education. According to the petitioners, it will impede the admissions and rights of minority institutions, students and especially the teachers who are at the risk of losing employment as the options of choosing a language is now restricted.

They claim 1.3 lakh students and 4,000 teachers, who were teaching Sanskrit (600 teachers), Hindi (3,000 teachers), Urdu (300 teachers) and other languages (100 teachers), are going to be affected by this move of the government.

“The said orders take away the freedom to choose a language for study and makes it mandatory for all students in Karnataka to take up Kannada as a language in degree courses offered in all streams of science, commerce and arts. There is a restriction on the freedom of speech and expression enshrined under the Constitution. Though, Article 19(2) of the Constitution enables the state to impose restrictions upon the fundamental rights, the restrictions ought to be reasonable..,” the petitioners contended.

Further, they have argued that equating those students who have not studied Kannada at any point time till plus level with those who have studied Kannada is also equally opposed to Article 14 of the Constitution.

Gujarat to get 8 medical colleges in two years

Gujarat to get 8 medical colleges in two years

Move Will Add 1,200 MBBS Seats

Bharat.Yagnik@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:27.10.2021

Gujarat government is planning to set up eight new medical colleges in the state in the next two years. They will add 1,200 MBBS seats, representing about 21% of the total number of prevailing seats in Gujarat, said sources in the state’s health department.

Presently, there are about 30 colleges in the state with 5,508 seats for which the Admission Committee for Professional Under Graduate Medical Educational Courses (ACPUGMEC) carries out the admission process. There are another 300 seats in the state under two deemed universities for which the admission is carried out at the college level. ACPUGMEC is not involved in this.

“The new medical colleges in Morbi, Godhra and Porbandar are expected to start in 2021-22. The inspection process by National Medical Commission (NMC) has been completed. The new medical colleges will add about 150 seats each,” said an official in the health department.

The state health department aims to start new medical colleges in Rajpipla, Navsari, Jam Khambhaliya, Botad and Veraval in the next academic year, he added.

State health minister Rushikesh Patel did not respond to calls and messages on his phone.

Gujarat government is working on a plan to ensure that there is one medical college in every district of the state. For this, the department will have to set up about seven additional medical colleges in districts that do not have a single college, said sources.

The proposal is in line with the Centre’s vision to have one college in every district of the country in the next 5 years.

The Centre has given nod to 157 new medical colleges in India since 2014 and has invested Rs 17,691.08 crore on these projects, the Union health ministry said recently.

On completion, nearly 16,000 under graduate medical seats would be added, it said. Of these, 6,500 seats have already been created with the functioning of 64 new medical colleges, said the government.

NMC, under the ministry of health and family welfare, is working on a plan to increase the total number of under graduate medical seats from about 82,500 to 1 lakh seats by next year , said sources. There are close to 550 medical colleges in the country offering MBBS courses of which 49% are government run and remaining are selffinanced and on public-private-partnership basis.

15.6% of global mgmt master’s degree holders are from India

15.6% of global mgmt master’s degree holders are from India

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.10.2021

Of the estimated 15 million people across the world, who are aged 20 to 34 and graduate management education (GME) master’s degree holders, 23.4 lakh (15.6%) are from India.

India is also among the top 10 countries, which include the US, China (Mainland), Brazil and UK, with the largest pool of GME master’s degree holders within this student-age population.

As per the first-ever global study of diversity in GME, conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and exclusively accessed by TOI, approximately 26% of all bachelor’s degreeholders worldwide studied in the fields of business, administration, or law.

In India, 28.5% of all bachelor’s degree-holders studied in these fields, of which the percentage of females (31.5%) in significantly higher as compared to males (24.5%). At master’s level too, these areas of studies remained more preferred choices with more than a quarter of graduates coming from business, administration, or law. The percentage of females (27%), however, is significantly lower than males (32.5%).

As per the study, India is the leader among its regional peers in the number of GME degree-holders and is also ahead in the number of students pursuing online management courses.

Full report on www.toi.in

Income cap for OBCs, EWS same, but components vary

Income cap for OBCs, EWS same, but components vary

New Delhi:27.10.2021

The ₹8-lakh income ceiling for OBC ‘creamy layer’ as well as the cap to qualify as economically weaker sections (EWS) for forward caste quotas is same on the face of it, yet different in substance by way of what sources of income are included in the calculations . But, while projecting this substantive distinction between the two caps may help the government duck the charge that “unequals are being made equals”, the BJP regime is actively working to bring them at par.

The court’s query to the Centre on how it arrived at ₹8 lakh for EWS quota has prised open a tricky debate, the primary being if gradually, a parity is being drawn between the OBC category, which has social backwardness as a parameter, and the EWS that comprises the forward communities with only poverty as criteria. TNN

HC: Open BArch counselling for JEE-pass students

HC: Open BArch counselling for JEE-pass students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:27.10.2021

Madras high court has directed the Anna University to permit candidates who have cleared JEE (Main) also to participate in counselling for B Arch course 2021-22.

This year, candidates who have cleared the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) only were allowed to participate in the counselling.

Passing the interim order, Justice N Anand Venkatesh has made it clear that the selection would be subject to the outcome of the pleas challenging the rule.

The court passed the order while hearing two pleas seeking direction to the university and commissioner of TN engineering admissions to permit students to participate in the admission to B.Arch course based on JEE (Main) scores.

When the pleas came up for admission, the petitioner submitted that it is seen from records that till the academic year 2020-21, candidates who qualify in the aptitude test conducted by NATA as well as candidates who qualify in the aptitude test conducted by JEE were considered eligible to participate in the admissions to B.Arch in Tamil Nadu.

However, when the prospectus was issued for the academic year 2021-22, all of a sudden the NATA examination marks alone were taken into consideration for the B.Arch course, they said.

“This goes completely against the information bulletin published by the National Testing Agency, which makes it very clear that the JEE (Main) Examination Paper II is conducted for admission to B.Arch and B.Planning courses in the entire country,” they added.

Therefore, Tamil Nadu cannot wriggle out of the obligation by not permitting the students who have undergone JEE (Main) Test to participate in the admission, they said.

Taking into account that the counselling commences from October 26, the judge directed Anna University and the Commissioner of TN Engineering Admissions to permit students who have taken both NATA as well as JEE (Main) to participate in the counselling.

Govt defends ₹8 lakh income limit for EWS quota in SC

Govt defends ₹8 lakh income limit for EWS quota in SC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.10.2021

Facing questions from the Supreme Court on the rationale for fixing income limit of ₹8 lakh for EWS (economically weaker sections) quota, which is similar to that of OBCs, the Centre said the determination cannot be a mathematical formula, and the matter be left to the government.

Stating that the income criteria was on the basis of the Maj Gen Sinho commission report which had in 2010 suggested that creamy layer benchmark for OBCs be adopted for EWS, the Centre said setting different income limits for regions on the basis of cost of living and per capita income was simply not feasible.

₹8 lakh criteria for EWS rational: Affidavit

Allaying the apprehension that ₹8 lakh limit is too high for people from general category — which does not suffer from social and educational backwardness that are grounds for OBC reservation — and would result in over-inclusiveness, the Centre said there are other checks to ensure only needy people avail of the EWS benefits in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions.

Responding to court’s query on why the same income limit be applied across the country despite a rural-urban divide and different per capita income in different states, the government indicated that a certain subjectivity might be inevitable and said, “The determination has to be made on broad probabilities and it is impossible to achieve perfection/mathematical precision”.

“It is submitted that the principle of fixation of ₹8 lakh as a criteria for determination of EWS as also for determination of creamy lawyer in the OBC category is rational and in keeping with Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution. The exercise conducted to determine the creamy layer for the purpose of OBC reservation would be equally applicable for determination of EWS category since the fundamental premise is that if a person/his family have a substantial economic standing, he/she may not require the benefits of reservation at the cost of others....In any event, the office memorandum provides further exclusionary criteria,” the affidavit said.

“To provide further check as to ensure that that only the needy get the benefit of the reservation , the office memorandum provides further exclusions which are not applicable for determination of creamy lawyer for OBCs,” the affidavit said and mentioned that a person would not be entitled to EWS quota if along with her family she owns 5 acres of agriculture land or a residential flat of 1,000 sq ft or a residential plot of 100 sq yard or 200 sq yard in notified municipalities.

Full report on www.toi.in