10 pc quota to be implemented from this academic year: Javadekar

Ten per cent reservation for the poor falling under the ambit of general category will be implemented in all educational institutions from the academic year 2019 itself, said Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar here on Tuesday.

"The Central government has decided to implement 10 pc quota from this academic year (2019-20) itself. All the 900 universities and 40,000 colleges will be given full operational manual and operation mandate in one week's time. This reservation will be available in both public and private institutes," said Javadekar told reporters here.

"This will be done without disturbing the existing reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs, which will be kept intact. There are more than 40 million seats in different streams at higher education level. The colleges and universities will be asked to include this reservation in their prospectus," he said.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday signed into law the 124th Constitution Amendment Bill, which provides for 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in the general category, and was recently passed by both the Houses of Parliament.

With this, the total percentage of the reservation goes up to 60, surpassing the 50 per cent ceiling prescribed by the Supreme Court.

The 10 pc reservation is meant for individuals belonging to economically weaker sections whose parental annual earning is not more than Rs 8 lakh and possess less than five acres of agriculture land.