The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Going `forward' in medical admissions?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 23, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Going `forward' in medical admissions?

By K. Ramachandran

CHENNAI, AUG. 22. Call it the success of social justice or fulfilment of the aspirations of the intermediate classes.

Students belonging to the Backward Class (BC) or Most Backward Classes (MBC) have taken 952 of the total 1,224 seats in 12 government medical colleges in the State (77.9 per cent).

The first 14 ranks in the medical admissions went to BC/MBC students. Even in the open competition category, five Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates have got into MBBS course this year.

Of course, these figures pertain to the original selection list based on 69 per cent reservation (meaning not counting the additional 14 candidates from open competition category admitted to MBBS as per a Supreme Court's order for implementing 50 per cent reservation.

These are candidates who would have got MBBS seats in case the 50 per cent reservation was implemented, but did not because of 69 per cent reservation).

In Tamil Nadu, BCs get 30 per cent reservation in educational institutions, MBCs 20; SCs 18; and Scheduled Tribes (ST) one per cent. The 1,224 medical seats then get divided into 354 for BCs; 247 for MBCs; 226 for SCs; and 13 for STs. The rest of the 384 seats are allowed as open competition, where everyone competes, regardless of community.

The final tally (original list with 69 per cent reservation) released by the Directorate of Medical Education however shows that only 28 students from the `non-reserved' or Forward Caste (FC) have got into government medical colleges, representing about 2.3 per cent. In fact, in the top 400 rank holders only 31 are from FC. In the top 100 rank holders only six are from the FC, 79 from BC and 13 from MBC.

High marks

Of the 395 candidates called for counselling under the open competition, 315 were from BC, 45 from MBC and five from SC category, clearly showing that these candidates have succeeded in getting very high marks that were good enough to get them into the much sought-after MBBS course without the benefit of communal reservation.

Even SC candidates have done better. A total of 231 candidates (18.9 per cent) got into government medical colleges, much higher than the 226 (18 per cent) seats normally reserved for this category.

BCs benefit

Salem-based consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi, who analysed the results, agrees that the BC candidates have really benefited.

There is every chance that a substantial number, say 80 per cent or more of those who benefited from the `improvement scheme' are BC and MBC candidates.

He wonders as to why FC candidates are not there. "Is it that they are no longer as competitive as they used to be? Or is that they are preferring other courses such as those in the Indian Institutes of Technology or all-India level engineering courses in Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani."

Pointing to the tough competition among the different sets of people, Mr. Gandhi says the last ranked FC candidate got an overall score of 295.74 (in the first list); the last BC rank was 294.26, the last MBC rank 292.13, the last SC rank 287.56 and the last ST rank 274.13.

"The first FC rank was 15 in the main rank list and even that candidate did not turn up, as per the records available. Now the 19th ranked person is the first FC candidate to get into MBBS this year," he says.

Of the 28 persons from the FC, only three each were in the two top-ranked colleges — Madras Medical College and Stanley Medical College. In the Kilpauk Medical College, nine FC candidates have got into MBBS, four in the Thanjavur Medical College, two in Coimbatore, one in Chengalpattu, three in Madurai, one in Tiruchi and two at Tirunelveli. There are no FC candidates in the Tuticorin and Kanyakumari Medical Colleges.

Self-financing colleges

Mr. Gandhi notes that in the self-financing colleges (PSG Medical College, Coimbatore - 56 seats and IRT Medical College, Erode - 34 seats), the FC candidates have secured 18 seats, which again shows that BC/MBC candidates have outperformed their FC peers.

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