OBC students will now be provided reservation in the second stage of National Talent Search Examination(NTSE)from 2019. The approval for the same was given by the government on Tuesday. NTSE is conducted by NCERT for the identification of talented students and awards them with scholarships. Over 1 crore class 10 students take this exam annually.
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Scholarship amount to be enhanced
As per TOI report, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government has already increased the rates of scholarships and is also planning to double the number of scholarships from 1000 to 2000 annually. The scholarship amount is expected to be enhanced to Rs 5,000 per month in the next couple of years.
Current reservation scheme
As per current reservation scheme for NTSE, 15 per cent scholarships are reserved for students belonging to the SC category, 7.5 per cent scholarships for students belonging to the ST category and 3 per cent for persons with disabilities. The MHRD is planning to extend the 27 per cent reservation to OBC students as well from 2019.
Javadekar said since the process for the 2018 exam is already under way, it has been decided to extend the reservation from 2019.
As per Business Standard, “The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court had asked the Central government to consider OBC quota in NTSE a few years ago. Also the Central government’s move was inspired from the fact that some state such as Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have already provided OBC quota in NTSE Stage-1,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.
[“Source-timesofindia”]
