NEW DELHI: The government of India today decided that it would provide a reservation of 27% for the Other Backward class (OBC) students and 10% for the Weaker Section (EWS) students for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) medical/dental courses.
This would apply to MBBS/MD/MS/Diploma/BDS/MDS courses.
The reservation seats for the above category students will be provided under the All India Quota (AIQ) Scheme from the current academic year 2021-22 onwards.
The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the supreme court to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any State to aspire to study in a good medical college located in another State.
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This decision would benefit every year nearly 1500 OBC students in MBBS and 2500 OBC students in PG and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1000 EWS students in PG.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting held on July 26, 2021 directed the concerned Union Ministries to facilitate an effective solution to this long pending issue.
The historic decision is the reflection of the Government’s commitment to providing due reservation for backward and EWS category students.
This decision is also in line with the substantial improvements in medical education that have taken place since 2014.
During the last six years, MBBS Seats in the country have increased by 56% from 54,348 seats in 2014 to 84,649 seats in 2020 and the number of PG seats has increased by 80% from 30,191seats in 2014 to 54,275 seats in 2020.
During the same period, 179 new medical colleges have been established and now the country has 558 (Government: 289, Private: 269) medical colleges.
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