Medicos’ stir spreads across country

NEW DELHI: Stepping up their protests against a government move to increase the quota for OBCs in institutions of higher learning, more than 1,000 students, including school children, took to the streets of Delhi on Tuesday.

Similar student protests have also been launched at Patiala, Amritsar, Himachal Pradesh, Benares, Lucknow, Rohtak, Chandigarh, Kolkatta and Bangalore. The student’s movement is also being supported by the Indian Medical Association.

Medicos, who have been boycotting classes for almost a week now, resorted to slogan shouting during their protest march that was kicked off at Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) in the afternoon.

Placards with “Arjun Singh wants another Rajiv Goswami”, “Believe in intelligence, don’t dilute excellence” dotted the streets of the Capital. Medical students even burnt the effigy of Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh at the civil hospital campus.

“I am here because I want to give my medical entrance exams this year. If this rule is implemented, I could lose my seat,” said Deepika from Greenfields School. “I do not understand the logic behind this 50 per cent reservation,” said Mayank, a student from MAMC.