Ragpickers on the road to education

Posts for SC and STs lie vacant in central universities

Even as the government is pushing for affirmative action for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the field of education, most of the posts reserved for teachers from these categories are lying vacant in 40 central universities across the country.

Figures from the ministry of human resource development (HRD) show that less than a third (29 per cent) of the total sanctioned posts for SCs have been filled in 40 central universities. Of the total of 2,521 sanctioned SC posts, only 742 have been filled. For STs, out of 1,265 sanctioned posts, only 331 (26 per cent) have been filled.

Take the case of Delhi University. It has 255 posts for SCs and 128 for STs, but appointments have been made for only 44 SC and 14 ST seats.

In Jawaharlal Nehru University, 109 posts have been sanctioned for SCs and 62 for STs. The university has, however, hired only 24 SC and 46 ST teachers for these posts.

In Jamia Millia Islamia, only 58 of the 124 sanctioned posts for SCs have been filled. For STs, the university has 62 sanctioned posts, of which only 17 have been filled.

The situation is worse in the Aligarh Muslim University. It has only one SC teacher, and not a single ST teacher - against the sanctioned number of 283 for SC and 142 for STs.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University has filled up only 28 of the 67 sanctioned posts for SCs and 13 of the 33 posts for STs.

The situation is however better in the central universities in Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, with the institutions filling up more than 90 percent of the vacancies for SCs and STs.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes says the issue has been taken up several times, but nothing has happened so far.

"We have taken up this issue, but so far nothing has happened," T. Theethan, joint secretary of the commission, told IANS.

"The SCs and other such groups can be empowered only through education, but they are being discriminated against in this very field," he said.

Theethan added that a committee was being formed to fill up the vacant posts in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

"We have formed a committee. First we will look into the vacant posts in the BHU, and then we will look at other central as well as other universities," he said.

The HRD ministry however says sanctioning of new posts has added to the numbers.

"In view of the expansion in the 11th plan period and increase in the intake capacity of students, central universities have been sanctioned additional teaching posts," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

A ministry official said it had written to the central universities to launch a special drive to fill the vacancies for SCs and STs.

"The HRD minister has written to the UGC (University Grants Commission) chairman to ensure filling up of the backlog vacancies," the official said.

The official said the UGC, while approving the budget for central universities for 2011-12, had directed the universities to fill up the vacant posts. This was followed by communications in January and March.

A Delhi University professor, not wanting to be named, told IANS that the posts were not getting filled because there were not enough qualified candidates.

"There are some basic qualification requirements, which we need to maintain for quality in the central universities," the professor said.

Asked if the seats could be converted to general, the HRD ministry official says "there have been such proposals, but there is a big question mark on the constitutionality of such a step. We have not taken any decision on it".

Over 40,000 scholarships provided to minority community

As many as 42,476 scholarships were awarded to students from minority communities during 2011-12 under the merit-cum-means scholarship scheme of the ministry of minority affairs, it was announced on Thursday.

According to the ministry, an amount of Rs.115.72 crores was spent on the purpose during the year.

"Of these 32,723 scholarships went to students belonging to the Muslim community; 5,764 were awarded to Christian students; 3,463 to Sikh students; 516 to Buddhist students and 10 to the students belonging to the Parsi community," the ministry said.

For 2012-13, the budgetary provision for this scheme has been increased to Rs 220 crore and the physical target has also been increased to 80,000 scholarships.

The scheme is meant for the students belonging to the minority communities studying in technical and professional courses.

The scheme also provides for earmarking 30 percent of the target for girls. During 2011-12, the percentage of girl students benefiting from scholarship scheme was 36.82.

This scheme was launched in 2007-08 and cumulatively 162,967 scholarships have been awarded till March 2012.

Central Educational Institutions Act amended by Rajya Sabha

From now on, some of the central institutions will be exempted to implement the other backward castes (OBC) quota, after the Rajya Sabha passed amendments to the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006.

The amendment is applicable to institutions where implementation of the Act exceeds the 50 per cent reservation limit fixed by the Supreme Court.

As per the amendment, if seats reserved for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in a central educational institution exceeds 50 per cent of the annual strength permitted, the institution need not make any reservation for OBCs.

According to the amendment, if such an institution is located in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Assam's tribal areas, the percentage of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates will not be reduced from the level obtaining on the date immediately preceding the date of the Act's commencement.

In case the institution is in any other area, the percentage of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates will be reduced to 50.

Source: Economic Times