Great quota rush

Great quota rush

New 10% reservation promises more crippling burdens for Indian higher education.

In an apparent rush to introduce the 10% quota for economically weaker students (EWS) among those not already covered by quotas, government has asked all 40 central universities and 77 other higher education institutions to detail their seat availability and financial requirements. The exercise is aimed at rolling out the new quota from the 2019-20 academic session itself. And since government doesn’t want the number of quota-free general seats to decline, institutions will have to expand their overall infrastructure. This is a humongous task and there is not enough time to implement the new quota by the beginning of the next academic cycle.

In any case, the 10% quota itself leaves too many unanswered questions. While the Centre may provide additional funds for central universities what happens to other colleges and universities across the country, whether state-funded or private? States are already running up large amounts of debt, where will they discover the additional resources from? Draconian regulations will also disincentivise private universities. Lack of diversity in the higher education system will translate into lack of competition and an all pervasive cookie cutter mediocrity.

The Rs 8 lakh family income cut-off to identify eligible candidates for the new quota is quite high and its criteria cover around 95% of households in the country. Certifying the income and assets of families is surely going to lead to inspector raj and attendant corruption. Besides, household income for those engaged in business fluctuates every year. How would applicants from such households be assessed? Won’t the new rules work against the salaried? Plus, now that the 50% quota limit set by the Supreme Court has been breached with the new class of reservation, a host of fresh quota demands are bound to flood in.

Finally, the slicing and dicing of education seats cripples meritocracy. Quality of education in India continues to be poor with universities treated as tools to disburse political patronage. The new economic quota will be an additional burden that will take away more resources from funding research and attracting the best brains. This way, higher education may continue to churn out more unemployable graduates incapable of taking the Indian economy to a higher gear. Unless we can set up special educational zones where the usual ham-handed and draconian regulations – including reservations – don’t apply, we may as well kiss goodbye to dreams of turning India into a knowledge hub.