Union Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that reservations will be extended to private institutions from the 2019 academic year.

He initially announced that the 10% reservation for economically backward people from upper castes will be implemented from this academic session, and that this quota will be implemented without disturbing the reservations in place for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class communities.

Later, in response to a question, Javadekar clarified that all reservations – for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and for economically weaker sections of the general category – will be introduced in private institutions.

The Narendra Modi-led government introduced The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Parliament earlier this month. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8 and the Rajya Sabha a day later.

The reservations will come into force in as many as 40,000 colleges and 900 universities, Javadekar said at a press conference. “We will create additional seats,” he added. “It [the quota] will be implemented in all courses – technical, non-technical, management, arts, science and commerce. Orders for this will be issued in a week.”

“Nearly 25% seats will be added to ensure that the reservation does not disturb the existing quota for SC, ST and other categories,” Javadekar was quoted as saying by PTI.

Javadekar said the decision to implement the reservations from this academic year was taken during a meeting between officials of the Human Resource Development ministry, the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education.

“The modalities are being worked out and within a week’s time we will have the exact number of seats that will be added,” he added. “The operation manuals about how to implement the quota will be issued soon. The colleges and universities will also be asked to mention the quota in their prospectus as well and make infrastructural arrangements accordingly.”

The minister also said that the Cabinet has approved a proposal to extend the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission to teachers and academic staff of institutions providing degree-level technical education.

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