Delhi University Admissions: Queries about new EWS category dominate first 'Open Day'

Queries related to the newly introduced EWS category, cut-offs, deduction of marks on changing streams were some of the queries of aspirants that dominated the first open day at the Delhi University, which started the online registration on its admission portal on Thursday.

The university organises Open Days for parents and students every year to resolve their queries about filling up the online forms, the admission process and the criterion for admission in the varsity.

Many parents had queries about the newly introduced EWS category. Some aspirants also complained that their respective SDMs were not even aware about any EWS certificate they were required to issue.

In January, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared 10% quota in education and government jobs to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), a key demand of upper castes.

Saurabh Sinha, who had come from west Delhi's Janakpuri, said, "We know that this category has been introduced in DU and we had gone to SDM of our district to find out about the EWS certificate.

"They said they had not received any notification about any such certificate that they were supposed to issue," he said.

Sinha said the officials here were asking aspirants to upload an acknowledgement receipt.

Another student, Gunjan Makhijani, who had come from Naraina Vihar, had a similar issue.

"The district authorities are saying that they are not aware about the EWS certificate. DU is saying it's not their prerogative. It is disheartening to know this. I had a subject engineering graphics in Class 12 and I wanted to know whether the marks I secured in that subject can be added to the best of four," she said.

An admission official said some 24-25 students who have registered themselves on the admission portal have uploaded EWS certificates and if any government official is saying they do not know about it, the varsity is helpless.

Many other students and their parents had queries about the OBC certificate, which they said had been issued last year, while the Delhi University mandates that it should be dated March 31, 2019 or later.

Some students also said that the district authorities were refusing to reissue certificates as they queried if they could upload income certificate along with a copy of the OBC certificate of last year.

However, officials maintained that they are following guidelines and accepting acknowledgement receipts and the students have time till that last date of admission to get their certificates made.

This year, the varsity will be effecting a 10% increase in seats for economically weaker sections and there will be a rise of close to 6,000 seats, taking the total number of seats for undergraduate courses to 62,000.

There will be separate cut-offs for students belonging to the EWS category.