27% reservation for OBCs, 10% for EWS candidates in medical courses: Govt

The government on Thursday announced a 27-per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year, 2021-22.

Hailing the “landmark decision” taken by his government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “This will immensely help thousands of our youth every year get better opportunities and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also lauded the “historic decision”. The PM, at a meeting held on Monday, had directed the Union ministries concerned to facilitate an effective solution to this long-pending issue, a statement issued by the health ministry said.

“This decision would benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgraduation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in postgraduation,” it added. “The present government is committed to providing due reservation both to the backward category as well as the EWS category. The Union government has now taken a historic decision to provide for 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for EWS in the AIQ scheme,” the ministry stated.

OBC students from across the country shall now be able to take the benefit of this reservation in the AIQ scheme to compete for seats in any state. Being a central scheme, the Central List of OBCs shall be used for the purpose.

The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the Supreme Court's directions to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any state aspiring to study in a good medical college in another state. The all-India quota consists of 15 per cent of the total available UG seats and 50 per cent of the total available PG seats in government medical colleges. Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ scheme up to 2007.