Gujarat to Implement 10 percent EWS quota; 914 more MBBS seats to be added

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has approved the implementation of 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in MBBS admissions in the state from this academic year along with the corresponding increase in MBBS seats to accommodate the new reservation.

With this, Gujarat has become the first state in the country to implement the EWS quota.

Informing about the rise in medical seats, the Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, mentioned that 35 MBBS seats will be added in each medical college making 914 new seats for MBBS course, on the whole, taking the total number of available seats in 2019-20 to 5,264.

Normally, each medical college has 150 MBBS seats. As per the Central government's formula, each medical college will add 35 new seats to accommodate EWS quota applicants.

"Since we are not supposed to disturb the existing quota for SC, ST and OBCs, 35 new seats will be added in each of these colleges, taking the total number of seats to 185 in each medical college. Of these new 35 seats, 15 will be reserved for EWS category and the rest will be distributed among existing categories," said Patel.

The seats have also been increased for allied courses including:

• Dental seats have gone up from 1,140 to 1,360


• Ayurveda seats from 1,780 to 2,115


• Homoeopathy seats from 3,525 to 4,160


• Nursing seats from 16,240 to 19,975


• Physiotherapy seats from 4,535 to 5,435


• Other para-medical courses seats from 320 to 390.

The government approved the creation of new seats for various professional courses during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

There will be 6,800 new seats in various medical and allied courses, and around 44,000 new seats in engineering, pharmacy, architecture and other professional courses from this year, he confirmed.

The announcement regarding increase in PG medical seats will be made later, he said. In total, the state government has added 6,809 seats in medical and allied courses, reports PTI.

Patel further informed that the Centre has given nod for a medical college in Amreli district.

Medical Dialogues has extensively reported about the EWS quota. Earlier this year, on January 9, the Parliament had passed the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill 2019 to help the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of Indian society. The bill focused on providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and higher education to the general category poor.

Considering the bill, it was decided that all educational institutions including ones in the medical field, will offer the EWS quota in the General Category. In order to implement the EWS quota, the Medical institutions had been directed to increase 10 per cent MBBS seats at their institutes so the other categories won't get affected.

To facilitate the decision, the MCI had issued a circular to respective medical education departments, medical universities of the states running GMCs under its jurisdiction; directing them to furnish necessary information in the given format so that the 10 % EWS quota can be implemented at these concerned institutes.

Read Also: MCI moves to implement 10 percent EWS quota in medical colleges, Asks States to submit Seat Matrix

Therefore, the Board of Governors in supersession of Medical Council of India (MCI BoG), National Board of Examination (NBE), Dental Council of India (DCI), Indian Nursing Council (INC) and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) have been asked to take all necessary measures for the implementation of EWS reservation.

Recently, clarifying the stance of EWS category on this academic year's MBBS admissions, the Union Health Ministry conveyed to NTA that the qualifying percentile for EWS category is 50 percentile and hence there is no need to make any changes in the Online Application Form or providing separate merit list for EWS category. The candidates of EWS category may indicate their category at the time of registration for counselling.

Read Also: NEET 2019 Breaking News: EWS Quota Implemented; 10 percent more MBBS seats at Medical Colleges