http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Quota_issue_crops_up_at_meet/rssarticleshow/2124540.cms
Quota issue crops up at meet 15 Jun, 2007 l 0418 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK NEW DELHI: A day after St Stephen's College announced a quota of 10 per cent seats for Dalit Christians from this academic year, it was still waiting for applications. The issue was discussed by Stephanians at the welcome meet organised by the alumni association of the college for the newly-appointed officiating principal, Valson Thampu, who crafted the new admission policy. ''Three generations of my family studied at the college and we believe that this is a good step to promote social justice. Though there is a great concern for maintaining the elite character of the college, we should not become a prisoner of this,'' said election commissioner S Y Quraishi, who was at the meet. Among those who were present at the event included historian and former vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Mohammed Amin, Salman Khurshid of the Congress and election commissioner Naveen Chawla. However, those applying under the general category were concerned. ''I always wanted to be a part of Stephen's because of its different crowd, esteemed faculty and a tough selection process but the competition seems to have got tougher this year and I don't think there is any hope,'' said Saieshaa Bhaskar of Amity International (Noida), who had applied for English (H) in the college. Under the new admission policy, 40 per cent seats have been allocated to the general category students and 40 per cent to Christians, out of which 25 per cent — i.e. 10 per cent of the total number of seats — will be reserved for Dalit Christians while 15 per cent will be reserved for physically challenged, wards of war victims and SC/ST/OBCs. The remaining five per cent will be the sports quota. Since the apex court verdict in 1992, when St Stephen's was declared a minority educational institution, it has been asked to reserve at least 50 per cent seats for Christians. However, only 30-32% Christians could get through and the remaining 70 per cent seats were open for the general category students. A total of 410 seats are available. The college has, meanwhile, extended the date for submission of applications by Dalit Christian candidates to Saturday, 4 pm. ''We have been informing people through the network of the church but we don't expect too many Dalit applications this year. But this is a good start,'' said college supreme council chairman Bishop Masih. -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
