NEET 2019: MoHFW issues clarification on the EWS category for medical admission

NEW DELHI, May 29: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) through an official notice has issued a clarification on Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category admissions. The EWS category will be put into force from the academic year 2019-2020 in Medical, Dental, Pharmacy and Nursing institutions. Board of Governors (BoG) in the suppression of all the competent authorities have been directed to make all necessary arrangements for the implementation of EWS reservation. Any candidate who is not a beneficiary of existing category reservation is eligible for admission under EWS category reservation.
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On May 27, 2019, National Testing Agency (NTA) re-opened the correction window facility for the NEET application form which allows correction in few fields including the category of a candidate. The correction window facility can be used to correct particulars in the application form before the declaration of NEET result. As per the official notice, the qualifying percentile for the EWS category is 50, which is equivalent to the cutoff for General category. Therefore, EWS category candidates are not required to make any changes in the application form. This implies that the EWS category of a candidate will be considered at the time of counselling through supporting documents.

To read the official notice of MoHFW on EWS reservation, click here

Exceptions to EWS category admission

There are eight institutions listed in the Schedule to the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act which have been exempted from the purview of EWS reservations. It includes the minority educational institution, institutes of excellence, research institutions, institutes of national and strategic importance. North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong also falls outside the ambit of EWS reservation.

On April 18, the BoG in the suppression of Medical Council of India (MCI) had directed the government medical colleges to send a proposal for the 10% increase in the seats in compliance with the EWS reservation. The proposal had to be sent by May 15, 2019, for MBBS course offered in all medical colleges that come under the control of state governments.

“The EWS quota reservation will be provided against the increased seats and the figures of increased intake shall be known by 31.05.2019 which is the last date of grant of permission for starting/ increase of intake capacity for MBBS courses.” the official notice states.

EWS reservation in PG courses

The apex court on May 28 sought a reply from the Maharashtra government on the status of EWS reservation in postgraduate medical courses. A vacation bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had asked the state government to file an affidavit informing the court about the status of implementation of EWS reservation criteria in medical admissions. The court is already looking into a number of petitions that challenge the validity of 10% reservation for EWS category in academic institutions and jobs. The court’s order has come as a follow-up event after the EWS reservation was challenged in the state for being discriminatory for open category candidates.