BJP wants reservation in minority run

New Delhi, Oct 19: Education ministers of BJP-ruled states today demanded that the government amend relevant provisions of the 93rd Constitutional Amendment in order to provide reservation to OBC, SC and ST students in minority run unaided institutions.

Making the statement on behalf of Education Ministers of BJP-ruled states, senior party leader and Karnataka Higher Education Minister D H Shankaramurthy, at the Group of Ministers Meeting chaired by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, said the Central Educational Institutions (Reservations in Admissions) Bill 2006 instead of providing opportunities to these students in minority run institutions tended to deny them admission to institutions established under Article 30 of the Constitution.

The BJP top brass, including Leader of Opposition L K Advani and BJP President Rajnath Singh, held discussions on the issue at former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence last night. Mr Murthy was authorised to make the statement on behalf of the BJP Education Ministers from the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Orissa.

Mr Murthy said the states should legislate on this issue as the conditions in each state were different.

The BJP, however, was in agreement with the differential fee structure for the poorest among the weaker sections, women particularly the SC and ST, especially in the professional courses. The Bill should not exempt private unaided institutions in Tribal areas. It also violated the Oversight Committee's approach of inclusiveness, Mr Murthy said.

The party wanted a suitable mechanism to be devised to determine differentials and the mode of sharing the burden among the Central and State governments. ''To begin with, the Centre should bear the total burden for the initial 10 years and at 75:25 ratio for the next some years and 50:50 with the states thereafter.'' The BJP Ministers were against overburdening the UGC with this extra work as they had to manage thousands of colleges and hundreds of Universities. ''The states should be left to handle the issue at their level.''

UNI