'India should reserve IIT, IIM seats for Pakistani Kashmiris'
12 May 2011

A report by the New Delhi-based institute for Defence Studies and Analyses suggests that the IIMs and IITs should reserve seats for Pakistani Kashmiris


India should reserve seats in its elite educational institutions for Pakistani Kashmiris who are bearing the brunt of state apathy, a report recommended.

The report, "Pakistan Occupied Kashmir: Changing the Discourse", by New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, recasts the demand of students of Gilgit-Baltistan to have quotas in the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and law colleges of India.

The residents of Pakistani Kashmir during their visit to India in 2006 made this demand.

"Not very long ago, in 2006, students from Gilgit-Baltistan demanded reservation of seats in top Indian institutions. This should not be very difficult for the Indian government to implement," the IDSA report recommended.

The Gilgit-Baltistan residents, who were in Delhi for a conference, had passed a resolution that stated: "The Government of India should provide openings in higher, professional and technical educational institutions to deserving students from Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, who are denied necessary facilities for such education."

Interestingly, the Jammu and Kashmir assembly has 25 seats reserved for members from the areas under Pakistani control since 1947.

The report alleges that Pakistan has forced demographic changes in the territory since its occupation.

"Chinese and jihadi influences are on the rise. Against this backdrop, India's response to the developments in PoK, which is legally its own territory, has been rather lukewarm," it laments.

"There is hardly any effort in India to clearly define its objective on PoK which is regarded as an integral part of its territory. There is a greater need for India to clearly define its strategic objectives with regard to PoK and also elucidate how it intends to fulfil those objectives.

On the human rights violations in the region, it points out that the "proponents of human rights worldwide have largely ignored the atrocities in PoK committed by the Pakistani state".

It states that the region "is fundamentally backward and comprises areas with little or nothing in terms of infrastructural development that presents a dismal picture of deprivation both in socio-economic and political terms".


Source: igovernment




Readers Feedback

rabi dash Thu, 2011-05-12 16:43

This is a welcome decission. But the govt. should allow the students not at the cost of indian students. The govt. of India should make this reservation of seats over and above the total no of seats. Suppose total no of seats is 100, this should be given to indian students, apart from this govt may make a provison of 20% extra seats for allotment to outside students. this will have multi imensional effect, which should be considered well before the provison os made.

Comments


rabi dash (not verified)
'India should reserve IIT, IIM seats for Pakistani Kashmiris'
This is a welcome decission. But the govt. should allow the students not at the cost of indian students. The govt. of India should make this reservation of seats over and above the total no of seats. Suppose total no of seats is 100, this should be given to indian students, apart from this govt may make a provison of 20% extra seats for allotment to outside students. this will have multi imensional effect, which should be considered well before the provison os made.
Anonymous (not verified)
Reservation for POK students
I think this suggestion once again shows the national syndrome that India suffers from which essentially stems from its very very diverse citizenship. The syndrome is the reservation syndrome. Now the suggestion extends this syndrome to various geographical territories. While it is welcome that India should encourage students from any part of the world to come and educate themselves, I wonder whether this can be used as a tool for political solution. It is very likely to boomrang.

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