1% quota for daughters of devadasis in universities

Girl children of devadasis and sexually exploited women will have a reservation in higher education from the current academic year.

To bring such children to the mainstream by giving them education, the higher education department has decided to provide 1% reservation for girl children of devadasis and the sexually exploited at state-run universities from the current academic year in undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses.

The University of Mysore (UoM) has already reserved two seats for children of the sexually exploited at UG and PG levels, which is out of the overall intake of that particular course. The higher education department has issued an order, directing other universities to implement the same.

As explained by officials of the department, the order has been issued considering the recommendation by the department of women and child development as well as the department of welfare of the disabled and senior citizens.

“There was a recommendation from the two departments to extend the reservation provided at UoM to other universities,” said a senior official of the higher education department.

The official said, “There are cases with the women and child development department, where children of the devadasis are forced to follow in the footsteps of their mother. Considering such instances, it had made the recommendations.”

Five students claimed reservation under the quota at UoM in the last seven years.

However, university heads are saying it would be difficult to implement the reservation as not many will come forward to claim it openly.

“As this is a major social issue, it will be difficult to get students to claim reservation,” said the vice-chancellor of one of the state-run varsities.

Prof T D Kemparaju, VC of Bengaluru North University, said, “We are communicating with the UoM to understand the norms set by them while giving reservation. Based on that, we will frame our norms.”