Odisha approves reservation in engg, medical colleges for govt school, college students in the state

The Cabinet on Monday approved several major resolutions adopted at the meetings of the state executive and state council of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) including the mandatory filing of property statements by all people’s representatives and reservation of seats for government school students in engineering and medical colleges of the State.

To correct the imbalance in access to coaching classes in rural areas after the introduction of centralised examinations like NEET and JEE for medical and engineering courses, the Cabinet approved a proposal to provide reservation to an eligible government school and college students of Odisha in institutions operating in the state. The decision will be implemented from the next academic year onwards.

The cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through video conference decided to constitute a high power committee headed by a retired judge of the Orissa High Court to finalize the modalities of implementation decision. The Committee to be constituted with eminent persons including educationists as members will be mandated to submit the report within three months.

Announcing the decision, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari said that the number of students from Odisha getting admission in medical and engineering colleges has been coming down over the years due to lack of access to coaching classes which is missing in rural areas. The cabinet resolution in this regard said these centralized competitive examinations require special skill sets which are imparted mainly through the coaching centres and online coaching classes.

“Due to such centres being limited to mostly urban pockets and the high economic cost of access to such facilities, thousands of meritorious students from the government school system are at a disadvantage and therefore, fare lower than their potential in the entrance examination,” the resolution said and added, “This is unfair competition for the vast majority of children in Odisha.”

In yet another step to strengthen the State’s campaign against corruption, the Cabinet approved a proposal to make it mandatory for people’s representatives and government employees to submit property statements every year which will be made available in the public domain. Submission of property statement will now be made mandatory for all the public representatives starting from the sarpanch to the Chief Minister.

Similarly, it has also been made mandatory for all the Government servants starting from those at the entry-level to the Chief Secretary to submit their Property Lists along with its availability in the public domain. A copy of the Property Statement of public representatives and the Government servants will be sent to the Lokayukta every year.