Thaindian News

By Prashant K. Nanda
New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) In a move that could see discretionary quotas being scrapped, former human resource development (HRD) minister Arjun Singh used his clout to give away 4,710 central school seats during 2006-09, much above the limit of 3,600 for three years.

According to statistics available with the ministry, Arjun Singh gave admission in central schools to 1,387 students in 2006-07, to 1,501 the next year and recommended 1,822 candidates in 2008-09.

According to current practice, the minister can recommend admission for only 1,200 seats a year across India.

His successor Kapil Sibal is learnt to be unhappy with the discretionary quotas exceeding their limits.

“The ministry has now found out about all these recommended seats. The current HRD minister is against any quota for the minister or the MPs. You may see the provision entirely being scrapped,” a HRD ministry official told IANS.

Ministry officials said additional admissions based on only discretion violates the principle of transparency and fair play.

Statistics show that Arjun Singh’s most favourite states were Delhi and his home state Madhya Pradesh.

In Delhi, for instance, the minister was allotted only 200 seats for recommendations per year. But he admitted 609 students in 2006, 666 in 2007 and a whopping 911 in 2008-09, just when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was getting ready for Lok Sabha polls.

In Madhya Pradesh, the minister’s allotted quota to recommend admission was just 60 but Arjun Singh did not disappoint his people. In 2006, he helped 215 students, nearly four times his official brief. In 2007-08, the veteran Congress leader recommended 88 student. The year after, he helped 92 families.

According to the ministry report, there are no ministry quotas in Uttarkhand but the former HRD minister recommended admission for 17, 26 and 43 students in the state in the specified three years.

States that received less than their allotted quota included Gujarat, Assam, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Though Rajasthan had a ministry quota of 50 seats per year, the minister only recommended 16, 27 and 19 names for 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively.

Those that did not get any favour were the northeastern states, Chandigarh and Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Since inception in 1965, the Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central Schools) have come to be known as centres of excellence in the field of secondary and senior secondary education in India. The Kendriya Vidyalayas Sangathan runs 981 schools with 1,033,500 students across India.