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| PM faces tightrope walk on quota issue | | |
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faces a tightrope walk on the OBC quota issue in the wake of Moily committee's wide ranging recommendations obliquely suggesting a staggered implementation of reservation in higher educational institutions.
This is because the Prime Minister has to decide fast on the interim report of the Oversight Committee whose recommendations are likely to be taken into consideration while framing a Bill on quota.
The government has already made it clear that the Bill would be introduced during the current session of Parliament and draft legislation is under preparation.
Backed by strong supports from Left parties and key allies like DMK and PMK, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh was keen on implementing the process in one go from the next academic year.
However, the Oversight Committee in its interim report, presented to the Prime Minister, is understood to have given strong indications suggesting that it could be possible in phases in view of certain issues and constraints expressed by institutions through the five sub-groups.
The timeframe for implementation of quotas and the possibility of sudden expansion "leading to loss of merit and excellence," was some of the issues raised by institutions.
IIM, Bangalore has recently said that the OBC quota increase will require at least three years for implementation as well as Central assistance through increased funding.
The Oversight Committee proposed to address the practical constraints institution-wise on receipt of group's final reports, sources said.
When contacted, Moily declined to comment on the Interim report except saying that he wanted the Prime Minister and the HRD Minister to go through the report first before making it public.
The new reservation process which will cover all Central and elite institutions like IITs and IIMs are to be accompanied with a 54 per cent expansion in order to ensure 27 per cent quota for OBCs.
Besides recommending a liberal financial package for the expansion plan, the committee is also understood to have suggested liberalising the retirement age of faculty, re-employment of retired faculty, flexibility to decide upon the compensation package of faculty, more shifts to hold classes and more scholarships to the needy and poor students, sources said.
The interim report says that the issue of 'creamy layer' would be dealt with in its final report, which is expected by August 31, 2006.
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