Quota for Karnataka students in medical, dental seats to go up

Heeding to the demand of students, the state government has decided to increase the reservation for students of Karnataka domicile from 30% to 50% in the institution seats in private medical and dental colleges.

Private colleges hand over 40% of their seats to the government which are offered to students at a concessional fee. Management and Non-Resident Indian (NRI) seats make up another 20% of the seats. The remaining 40% seats are institution seats, which belong to the private colleges.

Earlier, of the 40% institution seats in colleges part of the Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (ComedK), 30% was reserved for students of Karnataka domicile. The remaining 70% seats were of open quota to be filled based on theAll India Ranking in the NEET exam. Students from outside the state were also eligible for these seats.

However, only Karnataka students are eligible for seats in government colleges and government-quota seats in private institutions.

On Wednesday, the Karnataka Medical Students’ and Youth Doctors’ Association held a protest march in the city, saying that the ratio was unfair to students from Karnataka. They had said that the government was allowing students from outside Karnataka to compete for seats here when other states have not opened up their colleges in a similar way. Members of the association met Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil in Kalaburagi on Saturday and presented their demands.

Following this, a decision was made to revise the ratio. Now, only 50% of the institution seats are in the open quota. “There was a demand from students, so we decided to change the ratio. We have discussed it with the consortium and we have convinced them as well. Some changes will have to be made in the agreement and it is in the process,” the minister said.

The association, however, still has other demands that it wants to raise and has called for a peaceful demonstration on Monday in front of the office of the Karnataka Examinations Authority in Malleswaram. “We want it to give more seats for students of Karnataka in the minority institutions as well. We have some other demands too, which our team is discussing. You can expect a huge gathering of students on Monday,” said Dr Bharat Kumar, president of the association.