No funds this year for Moily's quota panel

The Planning Commission has projected a requirement of about Rs 16,000 crore for the next three years in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, with no funds this year, for implementing the Veerappa Moily Oversight Committee recommendations for quota in higher education.

Commission sources said the projection of requirement of funds under the head Moily Oversight Committee was for a period of three years, while the rest of the funds were for a five-year period.

The funds are meant for fulfiling the needs of various institutes, including central universities, IITs and IIMs, for creating 54 per cent extra seats to accommodate 27 per cent OBC reservation necessitated by the 93rd Amendment.

It will also take care of the expenses involved in creating another 27 per cent extra seats in centrally-aided institutions to protect general category students from loss of seats.

The committee, in its recommendations made in the interim report, has sought about 10 per cent of this amount for immediate release in various institutions.

Moily told Business Standard that the requirement projected for immediate release was for more than Rs 2,000 crore and the rest of the funds were to be spread over five years.

The money should be released immediately to build confidence in the institutions that they would be able to expand seats in a year, he added.

The Planning Commission's masterplan thus differs from Moily Committee's projections, which are yet to be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The interim report is to be finalised in a meeting on August 5 here.

The Planning Commission's projections have staggered the disbursement over three years, beginning with next year, 2007-2008, with the largest chunk being kept for the second year.

The three-year plan for fund release could reflect the modified stand taken by Moily on the staggered implementation of reservation, something which some members of the committee have been vehemently opposing.

Moily told Business Standard in an interview that the option being looked at was for a formula of 13.5 per cent reservation and 13.5 per cent protection (of general category ) in the next academic year. This would be followed by the creation of the next set of 13.5 per cent extra seats for reservation and 13.5 per cent extra seats for protection in the following year.

However, other members are divided over this formula, with some of them saying that it goes against the Constitutional commitment under the 93rd Amendment to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.

There is no such constitutional commitment on expanding general category seats, goes this line of argument. This is being supported by Dalit members - UGC Chairman S Thorat and Planning Commission Member BL Mungekar - who have the backing of Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

According to sources, the committee is now trying to cope with the divide over whether immediate implementation should benefit portions of reserved and general categories or only reserved category.