\u201cIt amounts to discrimination against other NRIs. More so, in matters of academic merit.\u201d \u2014Roshan Shah(Left). A non-resident Gujarati \u201cGiving reservation for NRIs domiciled in Gujarat is violative of Article 14 of the constitution.\u201d(Right) \u2014Gunvant Thakar Advocate for petitioner <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEven students were against this move of the Gujarat government. Dr Vijay Nakum, a pediatrics resident at Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, said: \u201cSome political or bureaucratic whim often comes into play during such exams and the students have to suffer. This year it is the NRG (non-resident Gujarati) over NRIs. Do they realize how agonizing it is for the students?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nAGAINST STATUTE<\/span>
\nKolsani Venkata Nagi Reddy, the father of the petitioner, said: \u201cThe amended rule was clearly a denial of admission to meritorious students from other states of India. The classification in favor of NRGs is based on territorial consideration which goes against the constitution. It is utterly discriminatory. To provide for reservation on the ground of place of birth is not tenable. Therefore we had to challenge it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nBut what do NRGs feel about this verdict? Roshan Shah, an NRG from Canada, cautiously said: \u201cPer se it seems to amount to discrimination against other NRIs. More so, in matters of academic merit. There is no basis for it except a narrow, parochial outlook. NRGs who have settled abroad do not contribute to the economy here in India. If this aims at checking brain-drain, it won\u2019t work as NRG medicos have their eyes on greener pastures abroad.\u201d Shah even advocates mandatory social service in rural areas for all medicos just like conscription in Singapore.<\/span><\/p>\nHowever, Pinakin Pandya, 55, an NRG settled in the US, supports the government move. \u201cMany of us NRGs contribute liberally towards rural development in their native places. Besides, they also chip in at times of natural calamities. So, why shouldn\u2019t they enjoy certain privileges?\u201d he argued. <\/span><\/p>\nHarikrishna Barot, 70, a retired bank employee and an NRG, said: \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t NRGs be considered for privileges? Whenever the state government issues an appeal for donations in times of floods or earthquakes, NRGs have contributed generously.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe Gujarat High Court order comes as a relief to students of other states who seek admission to medical courses in self-financed medical institutions in Gujarat. Let\u2019s face it: Being an Indian is more important than sticking to narrow, parochial boundaries.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An attempt by the Gujarat government to reserve seats in private medical colleges for non-resident Gujaratis was struck down by the High Court as it goes against the constitution. By Kaushik Joshi Regionalism has come to the fore in admissions to medical colleges in Gujarat. Thankfully, in an order dated September 7, 2015, the Gujarat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[246],"tags":[121,20202,1087,1086],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/17MAR11r-new.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}