According to reports, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may add almost 3,000 additional seats overall as the Modi government plans to implement 10 percent reservation for the economically weaker upper castes in education institutes from this year. Meanwhile, central universities will offer one lakh more seats at the undergraduate level.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) announced that the 10 percent reservation will be made available in both government and private educational institutions from the coming academic session. In order to implement the upper caste reservation, the ministry will also increase the total number of seats by 25 percent so that the SC/ST/OBC reservation is also fulfilled.

A senior official in the HRD Ministry said, “Institutes will have to make their own estimate as to how many seats they will increase so that the SC/ST/OBC reservation is not disturbed and at the same time, the additional 10 percent is covered.”

He also added, “We have a rough estimate of the numbers that will go up in centrally-run institutes such as the IITs. Currently, the intake in IITs is 12,000, so it will go up to 15,000. We will give two years to all the institutes to make arrangements for the infrastructure and other facilities and be able to implement the quota properly.”

For government institutions, the reservation can be implemented immediately, whereas, for private varsities, a separate bill needs to be passed by Parliament. The quota will be implemented in nearly 40,000 colleges and 900 universities in total.

Institutes that are not able to fill their seats will not need to add extra seats but adjust the number of reservation to accommodate the additional 10 percent.

Source: The Print