Ministry for Higher Education in Karnataka has plans to mobilise other States demanding regional reservation in the Union government-run premier institutes such as Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Indian Institute of Information Technology.
Interacting with media representatives at Gulbarga University guest house here on Friday, Basavaraj Rayareddy, Minister for Higher Education, said he would take initiative to mobilise his counterparts in other States in favour of the demand. He argued that the demand for minimum 25 percent reservation for the students of the respective State where the institution was situated was reasonable and logical.
“We have provided over 450 acres of land in Dharwad for establishing IIT. We provided all required infrastructure spending huge amount of money. In the first batch, only seven students from Karnataka could secure seats there. Of the seven, five are from old Mysuru region,” he said and asked what was the use if State’s investments did not benefit the State’s students.
The minister said that many of his counterparts in other States, who he had interacted with, had endorsed the demand for regional reservation.
“The Union government is reluctant to heed to the demand. Union Human Resources Minister Prakash Javadekar responded to my letter denying the regional reservation. However, the Higher Education Ministers in other States upheld the demand. I will convene a meeting to form a collective demand and pressurise the Centre. I don’t want to go aggressive on Union government at this stage,” he said. To realise regional reservation, only a Central Act, and not the Constitution, needs to be amended,” he added.
New Act for Universities
To a question, Mr. Rayareddy said all the University Acts would be integrated in a single Act that would be applicable to all Universities in the State. He opined that the Act would bring home a radical changes and uniform functioning in all universities.
“The draft bill is almost ready. It will go to Law Department and then to the Cabinet before being presented in the Legislature. The bill addresses all issues such as appointment for crucial posts such as vice chancellors and registrars, nominations to Academic Councils and Syndicate and uniform functionality,” he said.
