MBBS Cost a Bomb in Telangana

Mohammed Younus :

The private medical colleges in Telangana are raking in moolah by virtually “selling” the MBBS seats under management quota at a very high premium, ranging from Rs 75 lakh to over Rs 1 crore for the five-year course.

Private medical colleges are raking in moolah by selling management seats at high premium

And for the seats under NRI quota, the “rate” is learnt to have touched Rs 1.25 crore this year. The counselling for convener quota seats began on Wednesday and for the management quota, it would commence in the second week of August.  There are 18 medical and dental colleges in the State. Of them, five medical colleges – Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Gandhi Medical College, Secunderabad, Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal, Nizamabad Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Adilabad are being managed by the State government.

Of the remaining, 10 medical colleges are in private sector and three medical colleges are being run by Minority Institutions. The total number of seats in all these colleges is 2,600, of which 1,750 seats are in private medical colleges. 

There are three categories of seats in the private medical colleges: Category-A, which comprises 50 per cent of seats which are supposed to be filled up from the merit list prepared on the basis of results of the State-run Engineering, Medical and Agriculture Common Entrance Test (EAMCET); Category-B, which comprises 35 per cent of seats under management quota which are filled up, supposedly from the merit list prepared on the basis of a separate entrance test conducted by these colleges; and Category-C, which comprises the remaining 15 per cent of seats to be filled by NRI students on merit basis.

Till last year, there were four categories of seats in private medical colleges: A, B, C-1 and C-2. While A category was the EAMCET convenor quota, B category seats (10 per cent) were under management quota, but were supposed to be filled up on the basis of EAMCET ranking, while C-1 category comprising 25 per cent seats were filled by the management at their sole discretion and C-2 was the NRI quota. This year, the government has merged the B-category (10 per cent seats) with C-1 (25 per cent seats); thus, providing 35 per cent of seats under the management quota without the involvement of EAMCET.

However, as per the High Court directions, the government directed that the managements should conduct a separate entrance test for the management quota and fill up the seats on the basis of ranks obtained in this entrance test. The government has made it mandatory for all the private medical colleges to notify their admissions of each category on the website of the concerned university. The colleges will have to publish the admission details in leading newspapers.

The government’s order, permitting the private colleges to have their own entrance test and merger of category B seats with C has come in handy for these colleges to make big money. While they have conducted their own entrance test, there are allegations that it was only a formality and they had finalized the admissions of students under the management quota well in advance. “These students were made to write the entrance test and ranks were given as per the pre-determined format,” sources said.

Under the management quota, these private colleges are supposed to collect Rs 9 lakh per annum from each student. Under NRI quota, it is Rs 11 lakh per year, as per the norms prescribed by the Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee constituted by the government. However, these colleges are said to be collecting at least nine to 10 times more from each student under the management quota. “On paper, they collect the fee prescribed by the government, but the remaining amount is collected in black,” sources said.

According to sources, the amount collected by the private medical colleges in black is not less than Rs 500 crore per annum. When contacted, Private Medical & Dental Colleges Association president ChalmedaLaxminarasimhaRao refused to make any comment on the allegations on the collection of hefty premium on the medical seats under management quota. He said that JNTU-H would monitor the counseling that would be held for those candidates who have appeared in the entrance test conducted by the private medical colleges. “About 10 colleges have about 502 management quota seats across the state.

Admission process would commence possibly in the second week of August,” he said. ABVP State secretary J Niranjan alleged that State government had been trying to get rid of the fee reimbursement scheme and that was the reason it has merged the convener seats with management ones. He said, “The government has not only increased the fees for various categories but it has allowed the private college managements to conduct their own entrance test to fill the seats under management and NRI quota.

We have been opposing both of the moves of government.” Though the government has stipulated certain fees for different categories, that are already very high, the private managements have been collecting more, he stated. SFI State secretary B Sambasiva alleged that by decreasing the percentage of convener quota seats, the State government has brought down the chances of poor people getting into the medical education. He alleged that college managements have been forcing the aspiring candidates to pay huge fees of up to Rs 90 lakhs or above for one seat.

Engineering Counseling Begins

Clearing the air of uncertainty over the counselling for admission into engineering colleges, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari on Thursday announced that the exercising of options for counselling would start from 5 pm on Friday and continue till July 21. Announcing the schedule, Srihari said, “In the light of High Court’s interim orders that counselling process can be started, the schedule was decided to avoid any inconvenience for students.

We want to complete counselling within the stipulated time frame as per the guidelines of Supreme Court by July 31. However, the admissions are tentative and subject to the outcome of the inspection report as per the orders of High Court.” It may be recalled that a division bench of High Court on Wednesday, while allowing the commencement of counselling, also instructed the constitution of a three-member committee comprising AICTE and JNTUH officials for conducting another round of inspections of the petitioner engineering colleges.

The inspection report would have to be produced before the High Court by July 31. Srihari said that inspection would be done in 121 petitioner engineering colleges and counselling would go on as per the earlier announced schedule. He asked students to keep in mind that there would be three categories of engineering colleges. The first category comprises the petitioner colleges, second category colleges are those which were cleared for conducting the counselling and hence, did not approach High Court and third category includes colleges that wanted inspections to their courses, which were not allowed previously, as they were not given permission by JNTUH during the previous round of inspection.

He said that the online web options would be updated with the three categories of engineering colleges for the convenience of students. The JNTU-H had earlier allowed 220 engineering colleges for counseling, among which some colleges were denied few courses. Similarly, it has denied permission to 25 colleges. About 121 engineering colleges approached High Court either for disaffiliation of the courses or for the complete denial of affiliation.

Counselling schedule
July 17 to July 21-exercise of options
July 22-Change of options
July 23-Data processing
July 24-Allotment of seats
July 25 to July 27-Reporting of candidates to the respective colleges
Final Phase Counselling
July 29-Document verification
July 29 to July 30-Exercise of options
July 31-Seat allotments
August 1-Reporting to the respective colleges

Categories of Colleges in Counselling
1. Colleges that have approached High Court
2. Colleges that have not approached High Court
3. Colleges which would like to approach High Court for inspection

Second Attempt for Most

It was a moment of joy and overwhelming happiness for the candidates and their parents who got through the Civils examination, results of which were released on Saturday.

Most of the candidates from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana who succeeded in the civil services examination said that it was their second attempt for the highly competitive national examination.

P Seetharam Reddy, father of P Satheesh Reddy of Warangal who secured 97th rank in the examination, said that it was a prestigious day for their family as their son got selected for the all India service.

He said, “We were expecting this result and we are waiting for him to serve as an IAS officer in the future. The allocation of cadre would possibly be announced after two months.”

Satheesh Reddy has done his B Tech in EEE from NIT Warangal, started his preparation for civil service examination in the year 2012 and it was his second attempt.

It is to be recalled that only 500 students were qualified from both the states in Civil Services Mains examination, results for which were released in the month of April this year.

A native of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, T Lakshmi Bhavya who secured 88th rank, said that it was a matter of pleasure and pride for her and her family. She said that she want to give her best service to the nation honestly during her future endeavors in services.

She said, “It was my second attempt for the most sought after services in the country. After graduating in B Tech ECE, I have started my preparation in the year 2012. But I got through the examination in my second attempt in the year 2014.”

On the other hand another top ranker in civil services G Laxmikanth Reddy said that the result was quite near to his expectations and he would focus on giving best of his to the country.

Women Top UPSC exams

Delhi-based Ira Singhal on Saturday became the first differently-abled woman to top the civil services examination in which the top four positions were scooped by women.

Suffering from scoliosis, a spine-related disorder, 31-year-old Ira, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, clinched the top position in her sixth attempt. Renu Raj, a doctor from Kerala, and Nidhi Gupta, also an IRS officer from Delhi, both 27-year-old, secured second and third positions, respectively, according to the results announced by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) here on Saturday.

Vandana Rao, who is also from Delhi, has got fourth rank, while Suharsha Bhagat, an IRS (Income Tax cadre) officer, who hails from Bihar, has got fifth position in the examination.

From the two Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, nearly 50 candidates made it to the final list.

It is the first time that the UPSC has declared the final results on the fourth day of the closing date for the personality tests or interviews. A total number of 1,236 candidates, including 590 in General category, 354 belonging to Other Backward Class, 194 from Scheduled Caste and 98 from Scheduled Tribe, had been recommended for appointment to various Central government services, the UPSC said.

While 180 candidates were recommended for IAS, 32 were chosen for IFS, 150 for IPS and 710 candidates for central group ‘A’ services. A total of 1,364 posts are to be filled through the civil service examination.

Fresh IIT JEE Ranks for TS Students

Putting to rest apprehensions and anxiety among students and parents, deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari on Thursday announced that efforts were on to get the JEE Main ranks for students whose names were missing from the BIE list provided to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Kadiyam on firefighting, warns action for goof -up

He said, “We are concentrating on getting the ranks for the affected 1,188 students whose details were not sent to the CBSE by Telangana Board of Intermediate Education due to oversight.” Speaking to media at secretariat, he said that the list was again sent to the central board and the process of generating ranks for the students from State has already begun. “Fresh ranks will be generated for State students by July 4 and the exercise of options would be on July 4 & 5. The final list of fresh ranks will be released onJuly 7.”

He said that Central Seat Allocation Board has instructed CBSE to generate fractional ranks for students if their marks deserve any rank. The minister also said that action would be taken against officials responsible for the goof-up. “Government will not spare anyone who is responsible for this grave mistake and departmental action will be taken against them,” he said.

The minister said that after the Telangana government promptly responded to the issue, boards of a few other States were also allowed to submit and correct their mistakes by submitting details of the respective students. Education chief secretary Ranjeev R Acharya and other officials were already sent to New Delhi for sorting out the issue with CBSE.

Earlier in the day, TSBIE was under fire from students, parents and student organizations for its alleged mistake of not sending details of 1,188 students to CBSE.While members of a students’ union protested in front of the Intermediate Board, parents and students flocked to BIE office at Nampally to know reasons for the delay. 

Correctional measures 
-List of 1,188 intermediate qualified students sent to CBSE
-Fresh ranks to be generated for T students by July 4; to be put on JEE Mains website
-Students can exercise their options on July 4 & 5
-Final list of selected candidates would be released on July 7
-Minister says action against TSBIE officials will be taken

Colleges Under Strict Supervision

Stringent measures have been put in place by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University to monitor the recruitment of faculty at all affiliated engineering colleges in the state.

The university authorities have announced to set up a monitoring cell in the varsity to keep a check on the functioning of these colleges. Officials said that these measures would not only enhance transparency, but also restrain engineering college managements from misleading them.

Earlier, college managements were successful in fudging records to show JNTUH officials that they had adequate faculty as specified by AICTE. Several private engineering colleges used to utilise the same faculty by sharing their details.

Enquiries revealed that a single faculty was registered with various engineering colleges and it has been an accepted practice for almost a decade. The JNT university officials had cancelled the affiliation of such colleges last year.

After releasing the list of affiliated colleges recently, JNTUH in-charge vice chancellor Shailaja Ramaiyer said that stringent measures would be taken to bring down chances of such malpractice. “A monitoring cell will be set up by the university soon to monitor these engineering colleges,” she said.

As per fresh instructions, college managements would now have to submit Aadhar and PAN card details of all the faculty members in these colleges.

Engineering College Managements’ Association chairman N Goutham Rao said that the colleges would definitely produce all cards sought by the university authorities. He said that it was difficult for all colleges to submit details immediately and sought time from the University for fulfilling obligations.

A total 220 colleges have been allowed to participate in the 2015-16 engineering counseling by JNTU. Similarly, 25 engineering colleges were not allowed to participate in the counseling on the basis of poor infrastructure and due to lack of the mandatory teaching faculty. Almost 45 colleges did not apply for affiliation or counseling this year.