Rohtak, June 19
Money makes the mare go. This proverb sums up the new medical education policy of the Haryana Government that has come into force from the current session.
The new medical education policy envisages
reservation of 17 seats for NRIs for admission to the MBBS course run by Pt. B.D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science, Rohtak, and three seats in the government-owned Dental College also located here. Both these institutions are affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU). Although Rohtak Medical College and the Government Dental College are affiliated to MDU the entrance test for admission to the MBBS and BDS courses is being conducted by Kurukshetra University whose Vice-Chancellor, Mr R.S. Chaudhary, is considered to be close to the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala.
Last year, the entrance test was conducted by Guru Jambheshwar University whose Vice-Chancellor, Mr K.C. Bangar, was later appointed Chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission.
The government proposes to earn over Rs 6 crore from the admissions made to the seats reserved for the NRIs. While the candidate seeking admission to MBBS against an NRI seat would pay a minimum of $ 75,000 the charges for a BDS seat are $ 30,000.
While the candidates against the NRI seats would be admitted on the basis of ‘merit’, those belonging to Haryana would have to appear in the entrance test scheduled to be held on July 17. The ‘merit’ of the NRI candidates would be determined on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying plus two examination of the HSEB, CBSE, ICSE or an equivalent examination. But the ‘equivalence merit’ and ‘eligibility’ of the candidate would be determined by Kurukshetra University which will issue the ‘eligibility, certificate.
As a result of the reservation of 17 seats for the NRIs, the total seats available for bona fide residents of Haryana has been reduced to 81 as against 98 in the previous years. These include 41 seats for general category candidates and 40 seats for the Scheduled Caste and Backward communities. Till last year, the seats available to these categories were 50 and 48, respectively.
Surprisingly, the government has reserved seats for the NRIs without asking the Medical Council of India (MCI) to increase the number of seats in the medical college, the only government-owned institute in Haryana. Interestingly, the seats earlier reserved for the wards of freedom fighters and ex-servicemen were abolished this year. In the past, three seats were reserved for the candidates belonging to this category. But the government has instead introduced quota for handicapped persons and has reserved two seats for them.
