Campus Talk: EWS quota a shot in the arm of many MBBS students of Maharashtra

Kshirsagar is just one of the students from the third batch of beneficiaries of the EWS quota in Maharashtra, which has been implementing the system since the past two admissions.

Coming from a humble family background in Maharashtra’s Satara district where his father runs a small general store, Kshirsagar’s dream to become a doctor bore fruits in his second attempt with a score of 626 out of 720 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The Mumbai college where he is offered an MBBS seat closed the first round of admission on 629 marks for open category and 622 marks for EWS.

“This gap in cut-off marks is much higher in case of other reservations such as reservation for SC, ST categories etc, allowing a candidate of much lower rank to qualify for the seat. But when applying through EWS, the biggest relief is the 50 per cent fee-waiver as there is hardly any difference in the cut-off score when compared with the open category. Additionally, this fee waiver applies only to government colleges. I had to try harder with another year’s preparation to secure a seat in a government college,” said Atharva, who has already bagged a seat in government medical college in the first round of admission.

Last year, he would have easily secured a seat in a private medical college but for the huge course expense.

For Vivek Shinde from Sillod taluka in Aurangabad pursuing MBBS dream would not have been possible without EWS reservation, despite his sister being a medical student. His father Shriram Shinde who is a class III worker in the government sector and the sole breadwinner of the family said, “We are already supporting our elder daughter to pursue medical education. Even as she too is a government medical college student, I wouldn’t have been able to afford medical education without EWS relaxation, considering the fact that the fee amounts into lakhs of rupees every year.”

While there are many aspiring first generation doctors who are availing the benefit of the EWS reservation, it is also applicable in post-graduate (PG) admissions. “But in case of PG admissions, the benefit is only in merit score as the fee structure remains the same. But this relaxation helps lower-ranked candidates to secure admission in preferred branches of PG, especially those not in demand,” said an MBBS graduate from Aurangabad who is awaiting another round of PG admissions. He now hopes to get a better seat in a preferred branch in a government medical college through EWS reservation.

While the reservation in the economically weaker section among the forward castes has been welcomed by many, parents feel it is important to tighten the process of scrutiny of income certificates. “The scrutinizing process should be tightened to ensure that only the right candidates get to avail the EWS facility, starting from strengthening the process of verifying the income certificate submitted,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent.

Even as this reservation is applicable to all types of education, the medical education sector has witnessed opposition to EWS reservation owing to less number of seats.