Delhi, 14 July 2015:
North East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) yesterday protested against denial of reservation for ST students from outside NCT, Delhi. A delegation of two members met Deputy Registrar(Admin) Manish Kumar Bahuguna who has sought time of three days for taking appropriate action. This is a matter of huge concern for all Schedule Tribe (ST) students from outside NCT (National Capital Territory), Delhi especially from north-east that they are being denied the reservation in admission for the undergraduate courses in Ambedkar University. It is to be noted that there are 35 seats for each undergraduate course in AUD out of which 85% seats are reserved for the students of Delhi which means 5.25 seats are reserved for the students from outside NCT, Delhi.
0.4 seat should be reserved for the Scheduled Tribe students from outside NCT, Delhi. 0.75 seat has been reserved for the SC students and thus 1 seat has been prescribed for the same. In such a case, roster system should be followed under which every third year one seat has to be reserved for ST students. But not a single seat has been reserved for ST student from outside NCT, Delhi since its inception in 2007.
Furthermore, the Delhi has no ST population of its own. ST students which reside here are immigrants who are second generation learners of their family. Majority students from ST community are from outside NCT, Delhi and they are the first generation learner of their families coming from geographically most backward area of the country which are yet to be mainstreamed. This not just amounts to unequal treatment with first generation learner ST students from outside NCT, Delhi vis-à-vis ST students from Delhi but also sheer discrimination with students from north-east from where majority of ST students come.
It should also be noted that in accordance with the reservation policy of the Government of NCT, Delhi reservation for OBC students from outside NCT, Delhi have not been provided but these seats have been put in non reserved category. These seats were meant for social justice and should have been reserved for the SC and ST students.
This is a press release from NEFIS sent to Kanglaonline on 14th July 2015. They can be contacted at nefis(dot)delhi(at)gmail(dot)com.
