The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Madhya Pradesh has announced only one center in southern India in Chennai for its 2020-2021 admissions entrance examinations out of 28 exam centers across India.
According to the latest notification from the University, it excludes entrance examination centres in Kerala (Wayanad), Telengana (Adilabad), Andhra Pradesh (Srikakulam), and Karnataka (Karwar).
This comes as a blow to students from southern states at the lack of opportunity provided as there has been a steady increase in number of south Indian students enrolling themselves to this university. In 2019, after Madhya Pradesh which having 7 examination centres, the most number of students attended for entrance examination of the University were from Kerela which had only one centre in Wayanad.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is also representing Wayanad constituency in LokSabha has written to Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank demanding to amend the admission notification to include an entrance examination centre in Wayanad. Rahul writes that the Wayanad is home to the largest tribal population and urging students to opt for examination far away from home is a denial of opportunity.
T.N. Prathapan, Member of Parliament has written to the Union HRD Minister demanding an immediate intervention. He says, “It will badly effect the mission and vision of a Varsity like IGNTU which was established for the betterment of segregated sections of the society, especially Adivasi communities”. He further urged to review the decision taken by the university and that the center must continue to entertain the spirit of plurality which consists of different cultures from all parts of the country. “This issue of negligence towards South is becoming a regular issue with many central universities.” He added.
Students expressed their concerns and said that it would put many students in an extremely difficult situation financially and cause great inconvenience considering the risk of COVID19 in the country.
Rajmohan Unnithan, PK Kunhalikutty, and Elamaram Kareem, Members of Parliament as well as National Student’s Union India (NSUI) have also written to Union HRD Minister asking to review the decision as it puts south Indian students at a disadvantage.
According to the admission notification, the entrance exam is scheduled to be held in June. Out of the total 28 exam centers, seven are in Madhya Pradesh, three in Chhattisgarh, two each in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while one each in Manipur, Bihar, Assam, Gujrat, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The online application started on 23 April and will be open until 10 June.
This decision of excluding allocation of exam centers in other southern states defeats the purpose of establishment of the University, which is to promote improvement of social, educational and economic conditions and welfare of scheduled tribes thereby providing more opportunity for the tribes.
