All India Quota Scheme: Around 5,550 seats will be reserved under this decision.
Medical and dental courses in the country will have a 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 10 per cent for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) under the All India Quota Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday.
This will apply to courses like MBBS, MD, MS, BDS, MDS and diploma medical programmes from this academic year. Around 5,550 seats will be reserved in all for the communities thanks to this order.
The decision is also being seen in the context of next year's Uttar Pradesh elections where caste and communal allegiances play a big role. The BJP had demonstrated the calculation earlier this month when it revamped the union cabinet with special emphasis on these communities and sent detailed information packets to media outlets with the caste and sub-caste of their ministers.
According to a statement issued by the health ministry, PM Modi had directed the union ministries concerned to "facilitate an effective solution to this long-pending issue" at a meeting held on Monday. On Wednesday, a group of BJP MPs from the OBC community also met the PM on the same issue.
"This decision would benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in post-graduation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in post-graduation," the health ministry said.
"The present government is committed to providing due reservation both to the backward category as well as the EWS category. The Union government has now taken a historic decision to provide for 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for EWS in the AIQ scheme," the ministry said.
OBC students from across the country shall now be able to take the benefit of this reservation in the AIQ scheme to compete for seats in any state. Being a central scheme, the central list of OBCs shall be used for this reservation.