Page 22 - EW October 2025

Education News

in the Greater Boston area of America With post-indepen-
sited within a 10 km radius — MIT dence India’s record of
(Cambridge), Harvard University, and low annual GDP growth
Boston University — have designed resulting in inadequate
their own undergrad mathematics investment in education
syllabuses and curricula of varying and industry, clamour
requirements, sequences and tracks. for reservations in HEIs
Curiously, Joshi seems unaware of and in government
the elaborate separation of the aca- employment has grown
demic, regulatory, funding and ac- more insistent with the
creditation functions decreed for HEIs passage of time with
by NEP 2020 even as HECI (Higher even dominant castes
Education Commission of India) and groups agitating to
which was to replace UGC, is nowhere be classified as SC, ST
in sight. In UGC it’s business as usual. and/or OBC.
Sandeep Sen (Delhi) Manoj Jarange protest in Mumbai: sustained pressure In Maharashtra,
through August and
MAHARASHTRA these constitutional directives and September, Maratha caste leader
Aggressive casteism provisions, right from 1950 when the Manoj R. Jarange staged agita-
Constitution was approved by Parlia-
tions statewide and in Mumbai
ment, 15 percent of capacity in public demanding OBC status for Marathas,
he founding fathers of the HEIs has been reserved for histori- severely disrupting business and
Constitution of India were cally oppressed scheduled castes and commerce in the country’s commer-
Tperhaps the most learned 7.5 percent for scheduled tribes. cial capital.
and compassionate intellectuals the In the mid-1980s after the Mandal Caving into sustained pressure,
country has had before and since. Commission discovered that socially on September 2, the BJP-Shiv Sena
Well aware and perhaps ashamed of and educationally backward castes state government issued a govern-
the rigid inequities of the sub-con- (aka OBCs) constituted over 70 ment resolution (GR) enabling
tinent’s varna caste system which percent of the population, a new 27 Marathas who can prove Kunbi (a
foreclosed upward social mobility percent quota was approved by the scheduled tribe) origins to avail
of the lowest castes condemned to a Supreme Court for OBCs with the ca- OBC status. This concession to the
lifetime of menial, degrading manual veat that reservations in HEIs should Maratha caste/community which
labour, they enacted Articles 14 and not exceed 49.5 percent, i.e, 50 claims the famous Chattrapati
15 into the Constitution. percent of admissions should be on Shivaji Maharaj as an ancestor and
Article 14 prohibits the State from merit (toppers of entrance exams). is a powerful and politically mobil-
denying any person equality before But this cap on non-merit (with ised land-owning caste especially in
the law and equal protection of the lower cut-offs in entrance exams) fertile Western Maharashtra where
law within the territory of India. students admitted in public HEIs has its leaders control influential sugar
Article 15 is more specific. It been practiced more in the breach cooperatives, has aroused wide-
prohibits the State (Central, state than observance by populist Central spread indignation statewide.
and local governments, public sector and state governments. For instance, The GR, which allows Marathas
enterprises) from preventing citizens in Tamil Nadu 69 percent of capacity who can prove Kunbi lineage to be
from accessing public spaces and in HEIs has been reserved for SC, ST included in the existing 19 percent
institutions maintained wholly or and OBC school-leavers for several OBC quota, will pit them against
partially out of public funds, includ- decades. This has resulted in the other OBCs. Critics estimate that
ing public (government) schools and curious phenomenon of numerous Marathas are likely to corner 10
higher education institutions. How- castes, tribes and EWS (economically percent of OBC benefits and the
ever under a proviso, it permits the weaker section) groups clamouring total reserved quota for SCs, STs and
State to exercise positive discrimina- to be officially classified as backward, OBCs in HEIs will rise to 72 percent
tion for the advancement of socially especially since Article 16, which leaving only 28 percent of capacity
and educationally backward classes prohibits discrimination in public open for meritorious entrance exam
of citizens and for scheduled castes employment, also has a proviso toppers.
and tribes by reserving concession- permitting positive discrimination For instance, Maharashtra’s medi-
ary quotas for them in public higher for employment in government and cal colleges offer 12,000 undergradu-
education institutions (HEIs). Under public sector enterprises. ate medical seats annually. If 72 per-

22 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2025