What is IIM-Ahmedabad New Caste-Based Reservation Policy in PhD Admissions Introduced This Year?

New Delhi: IIM Ahmedab, only one among 20 IIMs, which h never offered caste-based reservations in its doctoral programme since its establishment in 1971, has announced that it will implement a reservation policy in its PhD missions from this year, as per government guidelines. registrations for IIM-A PhD missions are open till January 20, 2025. mission interviews are expected to occur in March-April 2025.

“Govt of India guidelines for reservation are followed during missions,” IIM-A announced. latest mission brochure by IIM-A for PhD programmes specifies that “candidates will be shortlisted based on ir performance in CAT or a standard test in lieu of CAT, acemic background, experience, etc. IIMA may conduct online or face-to-face interviews, depending on health visories at that time," notification res. 

Why IIM-A Decided To Implement Reservation Policy?

decision follows petition of Global IIM Alumni Network member Anil Wagde in Gujarat High Court in year 2021, seeking reservation in PhD programme of IIM-A. He argued that absence of reservation violated constitutional provisions and national regulations, including Central Education Institutions (reservation in mission) Act and University Grants Commission's norms. He said that 15 IIMs offer reservations. 

institute submitted an affidavit to court on October 23 confirming that it will implement reservation policy for 2025 missions session. 

What is IIM-Ahmedab Reservation Policy?

With implementation of reservation policy, candidates of reserved categories will be required to score only 50% marks in master's degree or PG diploma courses and 60% in bachelor's degree to be eligible for PhD missions to IIM-A. However, unreserved category candidates will have to score 55% and 65%, respectively, in PG and UG programmes. 

“If a candidate belongs to following reserved categories – Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Persons with Disabilities (PwD)/Non-creamy Or Backward Classes (NC-OBC)/Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), minimum degree marks requirement for eligibility as part of basic eligibility criteria given above will be relaxed by 5 percentage points,” says IIM-A in notification.

Registration Fees: Apart from relaxation in eligibility criteria, reserved category candidates will also get a concession of 50% in registration fees. unreserved category candidates will have to pay Rs 500 as a registration fee, while reserved category candidates will pay Rs 250. 

Reservation Policy As Per Government Norms

Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in mission) Act, 2006 is a law that reserves seats in certain Central Educational Institutions (CEIs) for students from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Or Backward Classes (OBCs): 

• act reserves 15% of seats for SCs, 7.5% for STs, and 27% for OBCs. 
• act applies to CEIs that are established, maintained, or aided by Central Government. 
• act has exceptions and special provisions for certain regions. 
• Every notification me under act must be laid before both houses of Parliament for 30 days.