 Welcome to NewsClick. Today we have here Karna Nidiji, General Secretary of AIOBC. So, welcome to the interview. So, you have mentioned about the work of AIOBC regarding the Central Education Act in 2006, which mandated the reservation policy in the Central Education Institute, like Central Universities, IITs, etc. So, it's about like 15 years since that was passed and the reservation norms extended to these institutions. But like the data from IITs which we have collected through RTIs, which shows a deny of social justice to these oppressed class like SC, ST and OBCs and many of the students were not admitted in the reserved categories in PhD programs as well as other MPEC and MS programs. So, the higher education there is like an exclusion to these communities even after there is a legislation which intended to give them the benefits of higher education in this institute. So, what is your take on this? Like, how can we improve the policy of reservation institutions like IITs, IMs and other Central Universities? I am very happy to share some of the views with the news click. And as per we were first seen, let me take it like this, that what will be the position of the higher education after this introduction of the new education policy 2020? Because at present, you are telling about the effect of Central Education Institutions Act that enables the government to provide 27% reservation for the OBCs. But the data you have also collected from RTI and also it has come in the media also and also the parliament and the honourable minister has also given the data to the members of the parliament. So, I have some data which I want to share with the media through you. As per the data provided in last year in nearly IIMs, 18 IIMs, there are total 784 faculty positions and OBCs are just 27 numbers only, that is 3.44% out of 784 positions. Similarly, in IIT, 23 IITs are there, they have given that nearly 8,856 faculty positions are there, but the OBCs are just 329, that is 3.71. OBCs also just 1.68, 149 and OBCs are just 0.23% in IIT. In IIM, OBCs are just 1% only, that is 8 faculty are there in the total faculty positions and OBCs are just 2. So, this is the position of the IIT and IIM in this country given by the government. Similarly, the central government runs nearly 41 central universities where the data speaks like this that out of 1,125 professors, the representation of OBC is 0. FCE is 39, that is 3.4% and STs are 8, that is 0.7%. Similarly, associate professors, the national level, 2,624 associate professor post are there where the OBCs are 0 and schedule cost professors are 130, that is 4.9%, that is 5% and STs are 34, that is 1.33%. This is the effect of this reservation policy adopted by these central universities and IITs and IIMs and this speaks very much on various areas. Not only we are concerned with the representation of the faculties in these top schools of excellence, but it has a devastating effect on the students who join in these institutions who belong to the LCE, ST, OBC, how they have been treated inside the campus, that also speaks about that. So that is why we see the suicidal deaths of Fatima and other people and other suicides are happening surrounding the IIMs like that, Muthukishtan, like that and Rohit Emula. All these suicidal deaths are all because of this overall effect of this representation of these dominant groups of a particular community in IIT, IIM and these central universities that makes these different rejections totally vulnerable. They feel that they don't have any persons to guide them also. So these are all the things that makes them to go out of the institution. So the number of dropouts are also increasing and they are very much harassed. I think you will remember what our UGC earlier chairman, Sukdev Dharat, he had investigated this kind of harassment in IIMs daily and he has given a report that speaks volume of it. So the overall representation in faculty position is very much important but the powers there be at the center are determined or very much determined that this kind of dominance should not be given up. So they don't want to implement reservation for which they create a lot of hurdles. In the meantime some Alhambra and Heiko gave a ruling that the recruitment should be done on the basis of department-wise reckonsies. Instead of university as a whole that created a lot of issue thereafter after some agitations from Delhi University and other people then it was reversed. So like the time when the faculty positions are being recruited, a lot of problems are created and our OBC, CST or even minorities, they are not taken inside the campus. So this is the position of this kind of institutions as of today. So what is going to happen after this introduction of national education policy is this will go further deteriorate. I don't think further improvement may happen because of this policy because the policy is not at all aimed at giving a representation to all these people. The policy, the new education policy has not spoken about reservation at all. In the entire policy of 63 pages if you go through that there is no word like that reservation policy. They have totally avoided mentioning that. Instead of that they say that socio-economic disadvantage groups. So this is what is the government's aim. So they want to create a situation where the concept of social justice is totally remote and they want to make it as an economic factor and thereby even the scholarship of our OBC or CST there is no mention about the scholarship. They speak about merit scholarship. So merit scholarship is based on mass, not based on various different communities. So totally the whole concept of reservation policy is totally removed from this education policy. Naturally it will have its own effect. I don't think further improvement I think will be having a very tougher days ahead to ensure this implementation of even the existing reservation policy.