‘Reservation issue will create furore’

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Recently BJP leader Vijay Goel said that Delhi University should reserve seats for students who have done their schooling in the capital.

According to Goel, students who have appeared in Class 12 from Delhi should be given priority in DU irrespective of the state they belong to. “Students from Delhi are forced to study outside the city because DU accommodates students from across the globe. Therefore, 5 per cent weightage should be given to Delhi CBSE students,” Goel was reported as saying. He also demanded that 28 DU colleges, which are affiliated with the Delhi government and get 100 per cent grants from it, should reserve as much as 85 per cent seats for Delhi school students.
Considering that a huge number of students in DU come from states like Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and the Northeast, is this demand justified? Teachers at DU think such a proposal is worthless.
Prof Anshuman Singh, associate professor, Faculty of English, Dyal Singh College, says that the idea is not new, as many state-funded universities across the country reserve seats for students from the state. “In my opinion Vijay Goel’s statement would just raise political temperature. DU can’t be treated as any other University. The University caters to students from all over the country. The demand will only lead to chaos, nothing else,” he says.
Some believe that the demand is illogical and illegal. Dr P.C. Jain, principal of Sri Ram College of Commerce, says that for a central university like Delhi, the reservation issue doesn’t hold any ground. “If you are a Member of Parliament, you can’t go and sit in the state assembly even if you belong to a particular state. Similarly, DU is a centrally recognised university. If a college is opened under the state government, it would automatically have 85 per cent reservations for Delhi students,” says Dr Jain, pointing at the logical perspective.
Interestingly, many students from Delhi are not in favour of reservation. Amilty Abraham, a second year student of Kamla Nehru College, says that students come to Delhi because of a lack of resource in their hometown. “It’s their need. Otherwise, who wants to leave their home and study outside? Ultimately, it will only lead to the upliftment of education in the country,” she says.