The Hindu : Front Page : Restrictions on ‘poor and meritorious’ quota go

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Thursday, Mar 05, 2009
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Front Page

Restrictions on ‘poor and meritorious’ quota go

Deepa Kurup

Seats not confined to Kannada medium, rural students
Criteria based on 2002 GO on creamy layer policy

BANGALORE: The State Government has spelt out the qualifying criteria for the “poor and meritorious” category of students for admissions to private engineering colleges. All such students can apply under the quota unlike earlier when it was confined to those who had studied either in rural areas or in the Kannada medium. The Department of Higher Education issued an order to this effect on Monday.

According to the order, a student whose annual family income is less than Rs. 2 lakh, or whose family owns not more than 10 acres of farmland or 20 acres of C-class land will qualify for the 25 per cent government quota seats. Private colleges will offer these seats, allotted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), at a concessional rate of Rs. 15,000, as against the full fee of Rs. 25,000.

The Higher Education Department rejected the guidelines submitted by the KEA, the nodal examination agency, in January. The KEA had proposed two-fold selection criteria. To be eligible for this concession, students would have to have studied in Kannada medium schools/rural or backward areas, or the annual family income should be below Rs. 2 lakh.

Higher Education Secretary A.S. Srikantha said that the department decided to stick to the norms previously framed by the Department of Social Welfare. The criteria are based on a 2002 Government Order that frames the creamy layer policy. Mr. Srikantha said that the KEA recommendations could not be used as it would not be a fair classification to discriminate on the basis of urban/rural background.

Sources in the KEA said that the Higher Education Department had dismissed the idea of using Kannada medium as a selection category. “Relying solely on family income can be dicey because people can furnish any income certificate. We wanted this to benefit the rural student and those who have studied in Kannada medium as we have found that they do not have to the same level of training as their urban counterparts,” a KEA official explained.

Last month, private colleges agreed to offer concessions to 25 per cent students seeking admissions through the government quota. In return, the seat matrix for private and government quota seats was altered. The ratio of government quota seats to private seats (in private colleges) was 55:45. This year, the seat matrix divides seats equally between the two categories.