Govt to offer 54% more seats

Expansion to cost government Rs 10,000 crore.

The government plans to raise the number of seats in all educational institutions receiving financial aid from the Centre by 54 per cent, to ensure there is no fall in the number of seats available for general category students, once 27 per cent reservation for OBCs kicks off next year.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to disclose this formula to striking medical students when he meets them on May 26.

The price tag? Rs 10,000 crore from the next academic year, according to estimates worked out by the group of ministers (GoM) tasked to look into the reservation issue.

The GoM's report was presented by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the meeting of the UPA Coordination Committee and the Left parties on Tuesday.

"Expansion of capacities by 54 per cent requires physical, financial and human resources (teaching and support staff). Creating these capacities will cost Rs 7,800 crore non-recurring and Rs 2,200 crore recurring expenditure," the report said, adding, the capacity expansion will take at least 3-5 years.

"The PM would have taken credit for it. Instead, by insisting that the formula be cleared by the coordination committee, it is we who have run away with the credit," said a member of the coordination committee.

As per the formula suggested by the GoM to increase the number of seats, if there are a hundred seats in an educational institution at present, 77 seats fall in the general category after excluding the 23 per cent reserved seats for SCs/STs.

The total number of seats will have to be increased from 100 to 154 to provide reservation without affecting other candidates.

Under the formula proposed by the GoM, the number of general seats will continue to be 77, while additional 42 seats will have to be created for OBCs to provide them 27 per cent reservation. SCs/STs will also gain under the new formula as their number of seats (under the 23 per cent reservation system) will go up from 23 to 35.

Since finding additional faculty "to the extent of 50 per cent" is going to be the most difficult issue, groups comprising IIM deans, IIT directors, vice-chancellors of central universities and VCs of deemed universities will give their recommendations to the Oversight Committee that is to be constituted to draw up a time-bound road map to implement reservation for OBCs.

The legislation, which the UPA government plans to bring in the Monsoon session of Parliament, is likely to be modelled on the formula suggested by the GoM.

In the mean time, the UPA and its Left allies will meet the public to explain that while the OBCs as well as the SC/STs will get their due, it does not harm the interest of the general category candidates.