The National Testing Agency has released a revised notification for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021, to include 27 per cent OBC and 10 per cent EWS reservation in all medical seats of the central pool. While central institutes like AIIMS, JIPMER and PGIMER already had OBC reservation, all-India quota seats of state medical colleges did not.
“It has been decided by the Government of India to implement 27% OBC reservation (Non-Creamy Layer) and 10% EWS reservation in 15% Undergraduate (UG) All India Quota seats (MBBS/BDS) (contributed by the State/UTs to the Central Pool). This reservation will take effect from the current Academic session 2021-22,” the NTA said in a statement.
From now on, reservation in AIQ seats will be:
SC: 15 per cent
ST: 7.5 per cent
OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) as per the central OBC list: 27 per cent
EWS: As per Central Government norms: 10 per cent
PwD: 5 per cent horizontal reservation as per NMC norms
NEET 2021 Reservation: What's New?
In India, UG medical seats in state-run institutes are divided into All India quota (15 per cent) seats and State quota (85 per cent) seats.
All medical seats in central universities – BHU, Jamia Hamdard, AMU, etc – and all seats in some central medical colleges – AIIMS, JIPMER, etc – come under all-India quota and in state medical colleges, seats are divided in a 15:85 ratio into AIQ and the state quota.
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) and the AYUSH counselling committee conduct counselling for the AIQ seats and respective state counselling bodies do it for their seats. Each state has their own reservation policy for their 85 per cent seats.
However, OBC reservation in the 15 per cent seats contributed by state medical colleges towards the all India quota was not implemented and EWS reservation was introduced only in 2019. This led to protest from the OBC community and several court cases in Tamil Nadu, including one filed by the party currently in state government, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Although not mentioned in the Centre's statement, the Madras High Court ordered the Centre to implement OBC quota and had even threatened contempt action when the NTA bullein did not include it. On July 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the quota is being implemented.
"Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken a historic and a landmark decision for providing 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses (MBBS / MD / MS / Diploma / BDS / MDS) from the current academic year 2021-22 onwards," the Centre sid on July 29.
The centre has now extended OBC and EWS reservation to 15 per cent All India quota seats in state-run Medical and Dental colleges, a move that the Health Ministry says would benefit over 5,000 undergraduate and postgraduate medical aspirants from these two categories every year.