Quotas, seats and the state of the states

Dr Govind Hoskeri -

The state government of Maharashtra is all set to limit the medical seats -- both undergraduate as well as postgraduate- to students from other states, if not from this year at least from next year. Only 5 per cent of the undergraduate seats and only ‘five’ postgraduate seats will be made available to the students coming from outside the state.

These seats will be offered only to those students coming from those states, which have either no medical colleges or insufficient number of medical colleges. Some of the students of the state of Maharashtra, who had missed the seats earlier on, may wish they were born a little later to avail the windfalls of this trend (May be it was a blessing in disguise).

Could they go back and appear for another common entrance examination? As of today, why is it that two or three common entrance tests (CET) are held on the same day, thereby denying a student a chance to appear for all of them?

Padmashree D Y Patil Medical University Entrance Examinations are being held on May 11, 2003 between 10 am to 1 pm, as is the CET for the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, Wardha. To top it all, the All India Entrance Examination for Engineering is also being held on the same day between 8.30 am and 5.15 pm. A student cannot be expected to appear at all these examinations on the same day.

The application form fees are also running into thousands of rupees and the very fact that most of the students are applying for almost every other CET is an indication of the uncertainty regarding the choice of career which is prevailing these days. Now they are in a fix as to which CET to choose, leave alone the career.

From CETs back to the new look seat-sharing arrangement, why is this volte-face? Is it because the students from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are getting all the seats whereas Mumbaikars and students from the rest of the state are not getting any? Apparently so! Why is it that such a situation has arisen ‘only this year’? Is it because ‘one’ of the aspirants has done (or is going to do) so badly, but has to be accommodated in Mumbai? Who has been doing the homework and since when? When did the polity take into consideration the ‘doctor factor’?

Have we grown that big to wield electoral swords? How come the government is waking up to the meritorious Mumbaikars and the ‘students of the state’ after a lapse of so many years? Is it an afterthought after the Supreme Court, ruling in favour of private medical colleges? Should there be competition between the state and semi-state run institutions and private institutions? The only factors in favour of the public institutions seem to be their antiquity and the academic atmosphere supposedly prevailing in these institutions.

Antiquity is a question of time. Academic atmosphere is a solace for some of the academicians, as on today. Exceptions to the rules are always permitted. Everything that appears mercenary to many may be ‘simple commerce’ to the others. And everything that is ‘mercenary’ is against our upbringing and ethos. This is where we get so hurt to see the monetary origin of these seats percolating to a deeper level. Do not tell me that we do not have foresight. With the high schools also making a beeline for opening ‘branches abroad,’ the students of Indian origin from other countries are going to find it easy to get into medicine and engineering via the affiliations to these Indian schools. Catch them young. That is the spirit. More opportunities are going to open up for the ever-increasing tutoring industry in India. The first step towards the "Global Destination Health - India" will be taken with the best foot forward - the right foot.

(The author is associate professor, Seth G S Medical College and KEM hospital, Mumbai. He may be contacted at hoskeri@rediffmail.com)