UP: 50 percent seats in Govt and Private Medical Colleges to be reserved for EWS

Uttar Pradesh : Akhilesh Yadav led UP Government has taken a strong step in the direction of promoting the state’s weaker segments by announcing that 50 % seats of the state’s medical and dental colleges will have to reserved for the weaker sections of the state. This reservation will automatically lead to nominal fee of Rs 16,000 per annum being charged instead of the designated 10 Lac.With this announcement 2,700 seats of the of a total of 5,400 medical and dental seats will go to the financially weaker sections of the state.

The decision by the UP government was taken on the eve of the starting of counselling and was endorsed by the cabinet by circulation on Friday evening. With this cabinet decision, nearly 2,700 seats of state's private medical and dental colleges will go to poor students as there are nearly 5,400 seats in these institutions.

Counselling for medical colleges begins from Saturday at four centres Meerut, Kanpur, Allahabad and SGPGI, Lucknow and will continue till September 7.

Earlier the government had also been pondering over the thought of conducting the counselling themselves instead of letting it be the prerogative of the colleges, who were conducting the exercise at exorbitant costs to the students. This was resulting in the meritorious being left behind while the wealthy getting away in the race.

According to senior state functionaries admissions were now to be granted on the basis of first come first served basis. And the meritorious would be granted admissions at the rate of Rs.36,000 instead of the fixed Rs. 10 Lacs, ET health

Speaking about the losses incurred by the institutes the government advises that they raise their money through the remaining 50% who can afford to pay a much higher fee.