BJD demands 27% SEBC quota, stages dharna

Bhubaneswar: Opposition BJD Wednesday staged a demonstration outside the Raj Bhavan here demanding 27 per cent reservation for students belonging to Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBCs) in the state.

A BJD delegation, which included MPs, MLAs and senior leaders, besides students, met Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention to protect the constitutional rights of the OBCs, who are referred to as SEBCs in Odisha. The agitators staged the protest rally after the state’s BJP government last week announced 11.25 per cent reservation for students in the SEBC category in higher education, excluding medical, engineering and technical courses. Both BJD and the Congress are opposing the state government’s decision and demanding 27 per cent quota, instead of 11.25 per cent reservation for the SEBC students in higher education, and inclusion of medical, engineering and technical courses. The ruling BJP Tuesday stated that 11.25 per cent quota will be extended to SEBC students in medical and engineering courses as well. However, it is yet to be implemented by the state government.

In the memorandum, the BJD sought the Governor’s intervention and stated that the measure taken by the BJP government in Odisha was inadequate. “Reservation has not been extended to medical and engineering colleges in the state. Furthermore, we would like to highlight that while the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) constitute 22.5 per cent and 16.25 per cent of the state’s population respectively, the current reservation in technical, medical, and engineering colleges stands at only 12 per cent for STs and 8 per cent for SCs — totalling merely 20 per cent,” the BJD memorandum pointed out. “This falls significantly short of the 38.75 per cent combined reservation that should be allocated in proportion to their population,” it said. The regional party pointed out that the Central government and several other states have already implemented 27 per cent reservation for OBCs across educational institutions, including in technical and professional education.

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