Debate on the Reservations in the IIMs

Good the debate on the mindless reservation has started in India – specially in case of the IIMs! I had an post earlier during the week on this one!

The proposed reservation of 27% seats has brought about a cloud of apprehension over institutes of higher education. At IIM-Ahmedabad, students wonder — will it drastically cut down seats for general category? Will academic standards fall?

“The proposal has triggered off two reactions. One, that getting into the IIMs will now be very difficult with reduction in the number of open category seats.

Two, it’s ironical that on the one hand we are gunning for autonomy, while on the other we have to follow government norms,” says Rahul Roushan, a PGP-I student of IIM-A.

Roushan, however, feels whether it would affect academic level of the institutes is something that only recruiters can say. “Even with the existing 22.55% caste-based reservation, we have never felt any difference in academic levels of reserved vis-a-vis open category students,” he says.

Refusing to be named, a faculty member at the institute said, “There is a perception that a reserved category student may not be academically as bright as his general category counterpart.

If that’s true, a mechanism wherein they get an additional year of study, should be brought in. A government, which is aiming to bring in social justice, should have no problem spending money for the benefit of these students.”

“I don’t think higher reservations will affect competition,” said Tirthankar Dubey, a PGP-I student at the institute. “There will be a minuscule segment of students who will make it to the IIMs.