Skip to main content

Gujarat Central University "deprives" SC, ST, OBC students fair admission, prefers interviews for Phil-PhD intake

By Kalyani Pradhan
Serious issues of unequal opportunities and deprivation done to students from disadvantaged sections from scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC) and rural India in the admission process of the Central University of Gujarat (CUG), Gandhinagar, have come to light.
The CUG Prospectus for 2016-17 stated that merit list for admission into M Phil-PhD shall be based on entrance test (i.e written test) and interview. However, contrary to this declared criterion, the final merit list for admission into the admission was prepared based on interview scores alone and the result was announced by the CUG on July 23, 2016. This change in criterion has been done keeping the students, parents and the society in dark and unaware.
This is a great injustice to students from deprived sections, as numerous students from SC, ST and OBC or those coming from rural India are relatively better at written examination and hence are likely to do well in the written test for CUG, while many of them may have performed poorly in the interview due to their limitation of English language or articulation.
Such meritorious but deprived students must have been adversely affected in the admission process due to this changed the criterion of merit list preparation purely based on interview.
The written test comprising of multiple type questions involves objective evaluation, whereas interview is a highly subjective evaluation. Removing objective evaluation (i.e. objective type written test score) from preparing merit list for admission into M Phil-PhD, while entirely relying on subjective evaluation, implies students from SC, ST, OBC and those from rural India are compel to face greater risk of arbitrariness and biasness.
It is unheard of an admission process anywhere in the world that involves 100 marks for written test and another 100 marks for interview, and finally ignoring the written test score to prepare the merit list for admission, purely based on interview score.
Further, the minimum cut off in written score was set at 40 for general and OBC candidates for inviting them into interview, which is contrary to the judgement of the Supreme Court. The University Grants Commission (UGC) also treats SC, ST and OBCs equally as far as relaxation from cut-off marks are concerned, while prescribing eligibility for the UGC-NET examination or for teaching position.
This is because SC, ST and OBC come from similar social and deprived background. Therefore, not inviting OBC students securing marks 35-39 in the written test for interview has deprived an unknown number of Indian students from the opportunity of attending the interview and getting equal chance to compete for admission.
Being a national institution, the CUG has received 797 applications for its M Phil-PhD programmes during 2016-17 covering students for almost all Indian states. Its admission process must be fair and transparent and should provide equal opportunity to students from every sections of the society. However, the policy adopted by the university has been grossly against the deprived students and those from rural India as the policy ignore the component in which these students are stronger.
Representation has been made to the Liaison Officer on Matters Related to OBC, Central University of Gujarat. Also similar representations were sent to the President, the Prime Minster, the HRD Minister, the Chairperson of National Commission for Backward Classes, and the Joint Secretary, SC/ST/OBC Division, University Grants Commission.
Also, a writ petition has been filed in the Gujarat High Court in relation to admission process of the CUG. The High Court has granted an interim stay on the admission process of the university.

Comments

TRENDING

Right-arm fast bowler who helped West Indies shape arguably greatest Test team in cricket history

By Harsh Thakor*  Malcolm Marshall redefined what it meant to be a right-arm fast bowler, challenging the traditional laws of biomechanics with his unique skill. As we remember his 25th death anniversary on November 4th, we reflect on the legacy he left behind after his untimely death from colon cancer. For a significant part of his career, Marshall was considered one of the fastest and most formidable bowlers in the world, helping to shape the West Indies into arguably the greatest Test team in cricket history.

Andhra team joins Gandhians to protest against 'bulldozer action' in Varanasi

By Rosamma Thomas*  November 1 marked the 52nd day of the 100-day relay fast at the satyagraha site of Rajghat in Varanasi, seeking the restoration of the 12 acres of land to the Sarva Seva Sangh, the Gandhian organization that was evicted from the banks of the river. Twelve buildings were demolished as the site was abruptly taken over by the government after “bulldozer” action in August 2023, even as the matter was pending in court.  

Outreach programme in medical education: Band-aids for compound fractures

By Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) of India, introduced two curricular changes in medical education, both at the undergraduate and the postgraduate levels, ostensibly to offer opportunities for quality medical education and to improve health care accessibility among the underserved rural and urban population.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah  The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad*  On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

Are Kashmir's porous borders turning region into 'convenient entry point' for drugs flowing into India?

By Raqif Makhdoomi*  Drug addiction has become a serious problem, affecting not only Kashmir but communities worldwide. In the shadowy world of drug trafficking, vast networks and powerful organizations play pivotal roles. These criminal enterprises, often bolstered by influential backers, operate with impunity, profiting from human suffering. For those able to evade law enforcement, drug trafficking can lead to staggering wealth; even at a local level, small-time peddlers can earn substantial sums. Despite international efforts to curb this menace, the drug syndicate is highly complex, eluding even the most determined governmental crackdowns due to its global reach and the powerful networks that support it.

How Hindu festivals are being 'misused' to incite violence and hatred

By Ram Puniyani*  Communal violence has long plagued Indian society, intensifying over the past decades. In pre-colonial times, such conflicts were rare and mostly ethnic, but under British rule, communal violence took root as a more frequent occurrence. The British promoted a divisive view of history, interpreting events through the religious identities of rulers, which fueled the rise of communal ideologies in both Hindu and Muslim communities. These narratives fostered a "social common sense" that exploited religion to incite conflict. Over the last 30 years, scholars, journalists, and researchers have worked to understand how communal groups have found new ways to instigate violence, particularly targeting the majority Hindu community.