Medical Seats Reservation UPSC | NEET Reservation OBC & EWS

Medical Seats Reservation UPSC | NEET Reservation OBC & EWS | Why In The News ?

The Union Health Ministry has announced 27% reservation for the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) and 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the all-India quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from 2021-22.

What Is NEET Exam ?

• The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is the entrance examination for entry to all undergraduate (NEET-UG) and postgraduate (NEET-PG) medical and dental courses in the country.
• NEET was held for the first time in 2003, but discontinued the following year.
• On April 13, 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the newly inserted section 10-D of the Indian Medical Council Act.
• This provided for a uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the undergraduate level and postgraduate level in Hindi, English and various other languages.
• Since then, NEET has been the uniform entrance test for medical courses across the country.

History Of Medical Exams In India : 

• Until 2016, the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) was the national-level entrance examination for medical colleges.
• State governments used to hold separate entrance tests for seats that were not contested at an all-India level.

What is All India Quota ( AIQ ) ?

• The AIQ was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court .
• The Mains Aim Of AIQ Was to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any State aspiring to study in a medical college located in another State.
• AIQ comprises 15% of the UG seats and 50% of the PG seats in government medical colleges.
• Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ.
• In 2007, the SC introduced reservation of 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs in the scheme.
• When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act became effective that year, providing for uniform 27% reservation to the OBCs, the same was implemented in all the Central educational institutions.

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What is Current Reservation Status In Medical Seats ?

• Reservation for the OBC and EWS categories within the AIQ will be offered in medical colleges from the current academic year.
• This would benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgraduate courses, and around 550 and 1,000 EWS students respectively,

Reforms in medical education since 2014

• This decision is also in sync with the significant reforms carried out in the field of medical education since 2014.
• During the last six years, MBBS seats in the country have increased by 56% from 54,348 seats in 2014 to 84,649 seats in 2020
• The number of PG seats has increased by 80% from 30,191 seats in 2014 to 54,275 seats in 2020.
• During the same period, 179 new medical colleges have been established and now the country has 558 (Govt: 289, Pvt: 269) medical colleges.

Source : Indian Express