This story is from June 14, 2019

West Bengal mulls 20% domicile quota in medical colleges

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday indicated that the state was mulling to frame a new domicile law for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in the state colleges to tide over the looming crisis of doctors, saying students from outside Bengal often leave the state after graduating.
West Bengal mulls 20% domicile quota in medical colleges
Representative image
KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday indicated that the state was mulling to frame a new domicile law for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in the state colleges to tide over the looming crisis of doctors, saying students from outside Bengal often leave the state after graduating.
The CM said her government would amend laws for providing 20% domicile quota to Bengal students in the state medical colleges.
The present domicile norm says that either candidates seeking admission to government medical and dental colleges must be domicile of West Bengal for at least 10 years or their parents must be permanent residents of Bengal.
The new rule will prevent students, who have not studied continuously (for a decade at least) in Bengal, from studying MBBS here, an official said. He added that the Bengal government made 30% reservation of seats for the students domiciled in the state for WBNUJS and on that lines, the 20% domicile quota will be implemented for MBBS and BDS seats.
Moreover, the official pointed out at a Supreme Court judgment of August 2018 where the SC had observed that the states can go for domicile status for students seeking admission to MBBS and BDS seats under the state quota for protecting the interest of the state for presence of doctors in remote areas.
Domicile quota will give the students of Bengal a greater advantage to study in Bengal medical colleges, the official added.
Many students from outside Bengal appear in Class X and XII board examinations from Bengal and later qualifying in NEET, they apply for the Bengal state quota, as the NEET norm says that students taking the board examinations of X and XII from a particular state can apply for admission from that state quota.

Admission of students for MBBS and BDS is done through National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) where there is an all India quota of 15% and the rest of the 85% seats are under state quota and students in Bengal mostly opt for it. However, those who opt for all India quota need not have to give any domicile certificate while applying for NEET.
The official said as education is a state subject and the Constitution empowers the state to give concession to its residents while admitting them to professional courses to serve the interest of the state, the new domicile norm can be framed. Already, Assam has an existing law for admitting students who have studied in Assam from classes VI to XII to allow them to study in state quota and it was upheld by the Supreme Court. The CM during her visit to SSKM Hospital lamented that large number of students, who are working as interns in medical colleges, are not well versed with the local language. “We will do that and I have given such instructions,” she said.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA