ALL INDIA QUOTA (AIQ) SCHEME

Recently, the Union Health Ministry has announced 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) medical/dental courses from 2021-22 onwards.

Important points:

• The AIQ was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court (SC) to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any State to aspire to study in a medical college located in another State.
• It comprises 15% of UG seats and 50% of PG seats in government medical colleges.
• Remaining chunk of the seats in state medical/dental colleges is reserved for students domiciled in their respective states.
• In January, 2007, in Abhay Nath v University of Delhi and Others, the SC directed that reservation of 15% for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes be introduced in the AIQ.
• Until 2007, no reservation was implemented within the All India Quota for medical admission.
• When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act became effective in 2007, providing for uniform 27% reservation to the OBCs, the scheme was implemented in all the Central Educational Institutions.
• However, this was not extended to the AIQ seats of State medical and dental colleges.
• The 10% EWS quota under the Constitution (One Hundred And Third Amendment) Act, 2019, too, has been implemented in central educational Institutions, but not in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) AIQ for state institutions.
• Now, after this decision, the Reservation for the OBC and EWS categories within the AIQ will be offered in medical colleges from the current academic year.
• This decision will help thousands of students under the given categories.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT