After Delhi University released the costs of the application forms this year, various students raised objections as the administration was charging the same amount for OBC students and unreserved students. The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association has now written to the Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dr Yogesh Tyagi to withdraw the ‘discriminatory fee’.
As reported already by Edexlive, the University is charging Rs 100 for SC, ST, PWD, EWS students and the OBC students and unreserved category are being charged Rs 250. For the postgraduate courses, SC, ST, PWD and EWS students are being charged 300 rupees while OBC and unreserved students are being charged Rs 750. In their letter, BAPSA states that the various studies on socio-economic profiles of the students in India shows that the conditions of Backward Class are not high and they lack accessibility in education an demployment due to the historic discrimination and exclusion faced by the various OBC members.
“The criteria for EWS category has the same economic metric as that used to distinguish the ‘non-creamy’ layer OBC category which can avail reservation. In that sense, it is a clear discriminatory move which would result in gross injustice to candidates applying under the OBC category,” the BAPSA said in its letter. The JNU student group demanded that the Delhi administration withdraw the discriminatory application fees for the OBC category and reduce it to 300 rupees. “We believe that modern university education should be accessible to all and there should be total elimination of all barriers in which any socially disadvantaged group students should not face any discrimination in higher educational institutes,” they wrote in the letter.
Omprakash Mahato, the President of BAPSA, said that this wasn’t the first time that the student group was writing to the Vice Chancellor about the issue. They had also written to them last year as well but did not hear back from them, “They only started charging excess for OBCs since last year. Before that they were being charged the same as the other minority student groups. For EWS, the annual income is 8 lakh per annum and for creamy layer OBCs it is 6 lakh. Firstly, it is unfair that nobody raised an objection to the EWS quota. But to say now that they are the same as SC, ST and that OBC are equal to the unreserved is a violation of the Mandal Commission guidelines. Members of the OBC community continue to hold low level jobs and are backward in education and are yet to be empowered, they continue to be socially and educationally backward,” he explained.
Calling this a ‘gross violation of the reservations system’, Mahato said, “What does this say about social justice in our country?” The student leader said that they were unable to pursue the matter with more vigour last year because they were also fighting against the 13 point roster system but this year they were determined to ensure that justice is done.”
