o! Just Me

With the commencement of first academic year for 6 new Indian Institute of technology (IIT), there is a total increase of 720 seats in the prestigious institution, each new branch offering 120 seats. But as the percentage of students sitting for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) has been showing a steady rise, there is a big question mark over the huge number of seats left vacant in the reserved categories. With a number as large as 432 seats left without any eligible candidate this year, which is almost equivalent to three and a half IIT’s neither the students nor the faculty members are satisfied of the new criteria of admission as well as the storming issue of reservations.

There is a unanimous thought process of the people throughout the country regarding the reservations arguing that if these relaxations in cut offs and seat reservation are meant for a boost up to the disadvantaged society, then what is the purpose of letting the general category students suffer, who have been scoring much above in comparative marking terms, even when there are not enough candidates to fill up the reserved seats. It is also being said, that a lot of capital gets used up in bringing up these new institutes and to match their standards with the already existing ones and leaving the seats unfilled, a number which can not be neglected, is a sheer waste of these national capitals and funds as well.

Mr. Gaurav Barua, director, IIT – Guwahati has mentioned about a meeting of the heads of all these institutes to discuss the possible solution over the entangled issue where they plan to request the Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ministry to open the unfilled seats for the general category candidates and increase their cut offs.

The reservation criteria followed this year at all the IITs is as under:

• 15 % - Scheduled caste (SC)
• 7.5% - Scheduled Tribes (ST)
• 9% - Other Backward Classes (old IIT’s)
• 17% - Other Backward Classes (New IIT’s)