Govt nod to 11.25% quota for SEBCs in medical, engineering admissions

Bhubaneswar: The state cabinet chaired by chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday approved the introduction of 11.25% reservation for socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) in medical, engineering and other technical and professional courses, meeting a long-pending demand.Briefing the media after the meeting, Majhi said the cabinet also enhanced quotas for scheduled tribes (STs) and scheduled castes (SCs) in professional admissions. Under the revised policy, reservations will stand at 22.5% for STs, 16.25% for SCs and 11.25% for SEBCs.Pointing to the imbalance in the earlier system, Majhi said despite STs accounting for over 22% of the state’s population, they had only 12% reservation in professional and allied courses for decades.

Similarly, SCs, who constitute over 17% of the population, had only 8% reservation, while SEBCs had none. “This disparity affected social justice and empowerment,” he said. While SEBC reservation was introduced in non-technical education last year, technical and professional courses had remained outside its ambit.The new reservation policy will apply to all state universities, their affiliated colleges and institutions, ITIs and polytechnics, offering courses in engineering, technology, management, computer applications, medicine, surgery, dental, nursing, pharmacy, allied health sciences, veterinary science, ayurveda, homeopathy, agriculture and allied sciences, architecture, planning, cinematic arts and technology, among others.

It will also cover all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes awarding certificates, diplomas and degrees, as notified by the state government from time to time.Majhi said that despite decades of movements and awareness campaigns even after 78 years of Independence, no government had earlier provided reservations proportional to population. “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have been able to take this important step towards educational rights and empowerment of ST, SC and backward class students,” he said, adding that it would help build a prosperous Odisha.At the medical level, the state has a total of 2,421 undergraduate and postgraduate seats. Following the policy change, ST seats will rise from 290 to 545, SC seats from 193 to 393, while 272 seats will now be reserved for SEBC students, who earlier had none. Similarly, out of 44,579 engineering seats in the state, ST seats will increase from 5,349 to 10,030, SC seats from 3,566 to 7,244, and 5,015 seats will be set aside for SEBC students for the first time.