Arjun sticks to guns on quotas, meets EC

Caught between raging anti-reservation protests and criticism from Cabinet colleagues, besides being questioned by Election Commission for possible violation of the model code of conduct, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today defended before the country, the government's proposal to reserve seats for the backward classes in higher education. Later, he explained his stand before the EC.

"If there are 17,000 colleges, 350 universities and equivalent institutions, less than 10 per cent of the youth have access to these portals of higher education," Singh said making a case for equal opportunities.

The occasion was the inauguration of a two-day conference of vice chancellors of deemed universities. The conference is expected to discuss the new amendment in Article 15 of Constitution, which has empowered the government to extend reservations to the Dalits and OBCs in private sector and unaided institutions.

Singh today also tried to set the record straight regarding his alleged violation of model code of conduct of the EC.

He met Chief Election Commission Commissioner B B Tandon and two other commissioners after seeking a hearing to discuss the row created over his remarks on the proposed reservation for backward classes in higher education. "He (Singh) wanted a personal hearing which was granted," EC sources said.

The meeting comes a day after he called on President A P J Abdul Kalam and apprised him of his views on the issue of reservation.

The EC had sent a notice to Singh almost a month ago asking him to explain how his comments on the proposed reservation did not affect the code of conduct prevailing during elections in three states.

Singh had sent a denial saying there was no announcement of any concession, much less any other breach of the model code of conduct.

However, the EC had sought further clarifications from the minister and Union Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi on the alleged violation of the code of conduct.

Earlier this week, Singh had made a veiled attack on his Cabinet colleague Kapil Sibal who heads the science and technology department, which also comes under the HRD ministry, following Sibal's anti-quota remarks in Hannover.