The National Testing Agency has notified that the Centre’s decision to implement 27 per cent OBC — non-creamy layer — reservation and 10 per cent EWS reservation in 15 per cent all-India quota seats will take effect from the 2021-22 academic session for medical entrance exam NEET-UG.
Earlier this week, the government had announced quota for other backward classes (OBCs) and economically weaker section (EWS) category in the all-India quota scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year 2021-22.
The National Testing Agency said that its information bulletin stands modified based on the new reservation structure for admission to undergraduate medical courses under the all-India quota. This will comprise of 15 per cent for schedule castes, 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes, 27 per cent for OBC (non-creamy layer according to the central list), 10 per cent for the EWS category, and five per cent for persons with disabilities (PwD) “horizontal reservation as per National Medical Commission norms”, according to the notification.
OBC students from across the country shall now be able to take the benefit of this reservation in the all-India quota scheme to compete for seats in any state. Being a central scheme, the Central List of OBCs shall be used for this purpose. The scheme was introduced in 1986 under the Supreme Court’s directions to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any state aspiring to study in a good medical college in another state. The all-India quota consists of 15 per cent of the total available UG seats and 50 per cent of the total available PG seats in government medical colleges.
