Higher castes should not grudge reservations; Thorat

Nagpur, Apr 30 (UNI) University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Dr Sukhadeo Thorat today said students from the higher castes should not grudge the facility of reservation given to students from the backward classes.

Speaking as chief guest at the 93rd convocation of Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) here, Dr Thorat said reservations given to scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC) was a compensation for the injustice done to them years ago.

The present generation of students from higher castes must realise that they may not be guilty of having perpetrated the injustice, but had definitely benefitted from it, he said.

Students from the higher castes must, therefore, have a positive attitude towards reservation for the backward classes, Dr Thorat said. Informal but active efforts must be made to inculcate this attitude from a young age, he said, adding that these efforts must be formalised over a period of time and included in the school and college curricula.

The backward classes were among the lot that had the least access to higher education, the UGC Chairman pointed out.

UGC would soon come out with a scheme to extend special financial support to universities and colleges that had a larger proportion of students from disadvantaged categories like SC, ST, OBC, girls and minorities among the students, he said.

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