Persons from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes communities, who occupy high positions or have been successful in their field, and their families should be left out of the reservation system, said Minister for Higher Education C.T. Ravi here on Friday.
Addressing the gathering after distributing laptops to 36 SC and ST students pursuing doctoral studies and research programmes at Mangalore University, Mr. Ravi said the intended benefits of the reservation system were diluted, and only a few could take advantage of it, because of the inclusion of the creamy layer. “We need to ask whether, for example, the children of Dalit leaders such as State Minister for Minor Irrigation Govind M. Karjol, Union Minister for Labour M. Mallikarjun Kharge, and Congress Opposition leader Motamma should be included in the reservation system? Instead, those who are downtrodden among the SC and ST community should be identified to avail the benefit of the reservation system…this will go a long way in uplifting the community,” he said. He pressed for a discussion by policy makers on the need to focus on reservation for only the economically-backward sections of the Scheduled Castes.
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Earlier in the day, a two-day national conference on yoga therapy was inaugurated on the University premises. The conference will deliberate on the potential of yoga, the current research on holistic sciences, and include practical sessions on using yoga to reduce asthma, diabetes and other ailments.
Mr. Ravi, who inaugurated the programme, expressed his fear that yoga, which was a traditional practice , should not be commercialised and succumb to market trends.