83%-93% Seats Reserved This Year After Two New Quotas For Marathas And EWS

Getting into a top junior college in Mumbai will be tougher this year, as two new quotas — for Marathas and the economically backward sections — come into effect. This means 83% to 93% of seats at most non- minority institutes will be reserved, and not open to students from the general category. As it is, the cut-off marks to get into any top junior college in Mumbai are high , and the number of reserved seats is only likely to further increase the competition.

Currently, non-minority junior colleges in the state reserve 52% of their seats for students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Nomadic Tribes (NT); and 5% of their seats are reserved for the management quota. At a few colleges that have schools attached, another 10% is reserved for in-house students. Now, with the additional 16% quota for Marathas and 10% for economically backward students, reservations in these colleges would go up to 83%.

Some prominent non-minority institutes in the city are also its most sought-after colleges. These include Ruia College (for arts and science) and Ruparel College (for arts, science and commerce) in Matunga; Mulund’s Vaze-Kelkar Colege (all three streams); Podar College (for commerce) in Matunga; and Vile Parle’s Sathaye College (all three streams).

In 2018, the Ruia College cut-off marks for science was 93.2%, up from 92.8% in 2017 and likely ro rise again this year.

The commerce cut-off at Podar College went up from 91.8% in 2017 to 93% last year. Vaze-Kelkar college also saw a jump in its commerce cut-off from 89.6% to 90.8%.

With the quotas reducing the number of seats available in the general category, the cut-offs are expected to rise even further.

Minority colleges already reserve 55% to 65% of their seats — 50% minority quota; 5% management quota and 10% in-house quota if colleges have schools attached.

While no other quota can apply to minority colleges, the number of seats available to open-category students at these institutes are already low, and cut-offs for the best of them are usually high.

At Jai Hind College, Churchgate, the cut-off for science was 85.8% in 2018.

The commerce cut-off at NM College, Vile Parle was 94.2%.

The science cut-off at KC College, Churchgate, went up to 87.2% in 2018.

Experts said the reservations would leave hardly any seats for students not eligible for any quota. Vaishali Bafna, from the System Correcting

Movement (SYSCOM), a Pune-based think-tank, said the government should scrap in-house quotas in the online admission process.

“With all these reservations in place, there are hardly any seats left for students who are not eligible under any reservation. In a report we submitted to the government, we asked them to scrap other quotas too, such as sports, cultural and those extended to project-affected persons, which are in addition to all these quotas,” Bafna said.

Colleges that have attached schools have a 20% in-house quota for their students which the government has now decided to bring down to 10%.

The state education department, however, said there will be enough seats for students, despite the quotas.

“We looked at the number of students who applied for admissions in the past, and found there are enough seats vacant after the various quotas,” said an official from the state education department, not wishing to be named.

“The education department should ensure all quotas are filled before seats are opened for online admissions.

“This way, students would get a clear idea about how many seats are vacant,” said the principal of a suburban college. “Especially for high-demand courses such as commerce and science, the cut-offs for admissions will go up substantially.”

(Source: HT Education)