K Srinivasan
IN September 1992, India’s first woman police officer, Kiran Bedi’s (who was then posted in Mizoram) daughter Sukriti applied for a seat in Lady Hardinge Medical College (Delhi), under a quota for Mizoram residents. Sukriti had topped the merit list with 89 per cent marks, and as the child of an officer posted on deputation in the state was fully eligible to apply for a seat from the state quota since she was domiciled then in Mizoram. Sukriti was given a seat from the Central pool, but students in the state went on the rampage alleging that a non-Mizo had been granted a seat meant for Mizos.
Ironically, Mizoram’s Chief Minister Lalthanhawla requested Bedi to “surrender the seat”’ in “the larger interests of the state”, while accepting in the same breath that “here was nothing illegal in her daughter getting the seat”. Bedi declined, the agitation petered after a while and Sukriti got to study at Lady Harding. Imagine, it was all strictly by the book. There was no hanky panky. A candidate was eligible and was admitted, but there was intense opposition to a straightforward case In the years since then the rules have been amended many times to make the conditions more stringent and in most cases define domicile (place of residence) to avoid a Sukriti-like situation. Increasingly, though, technical colleges, specifically medical colleges have found innovative ways of short-circuiting the process and providing eligibility to a chosen few.
The latest to join the bandwagon is the Punjab Government which issued a notification that amended the conditions for NRI quota admissions in medical colleges across the state. The notification was quashed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court which described the broadening of the term NRI candidates as “arguably unjustified”. What the state Government had done was to define NRI candidates to include relatives like uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins in the NRI category.
The Times of India reporting on the judgment quoted Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal: “By broadening the definition, the door for potential misuse is opened, allowing individuals outside the policy’s intent to take advantage of these seats, potentially bypassing more deserving candidates.”
Not learning its lessons from this stinging rebuke from the High Court, the Punjab Government chose to appeal the matter in the Supreme Court, which only upheld the earlier order, and said: “This fraud must end”. Chief Justice of DY Chandrachud said: “You are saying the nearest relation of NRI will also be considered. What is this? Just a money-spinning tactic by the state. We must stop this NRI quota business now. This is a complete fraud. This is what we are doing to our education system. Look at the result. Those who got marks three times high won’t get admission.”
Refusing to learn
Sadly, though state governments aren’t willing to learn. In June this year, Karnataka’s Medical Education Minister, Sharan Prakash Patil sought approval to create 508 additional (supernumerary) MBBS seats in 22 Government medical colleges. In his letter to the National Medical Commission (NMC), Patil outlined that these seats are for NRI students and over and above the present quota of the state. The minister used the flimsy argument that the National Education Policy 2020 encouraged, international students and what he was doing, was only following that diktat.
The going rate for NRI admissions that are permitted by the state Government in Bengaluru in private medical colleges is in the range of Rs 1.5 to 2.5 crore Ironically, of the 353 MBBS and BDS seats under the NRI quota at 25 medical and dental colleges in the year 2022 in Punjab, only 37 were filled after the first round of counselling and only four applied for the second round. All four were children of NRIs from other states. The prime reason is the exorbitant fees.
So why was the NRI definition expanded? Apparently, the idea was to rope in students from other states and find a way to make some moolah!
