Sixteen years ago, it was college students from Delhi and neighbouring states who took to the streets protesting then prime minister V.P. Singh's decision to reserve 27 per cent seats in government jobs for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). In the hot sweaty summer of 2006, it is medical students of Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai who are spearheading the protest against Union human resources development minister Arjun Singh's decision to extend the same percentage of quota in centrally funded colleges.

As the government tries to work out a solution to the highly emotive issue, the anti-quota voices have become shrill, their symbols of protest often taking on a distinct caste overtone. Take, for instance, students sweeping the floors of their campuses, as if to suggest quotas would leave them with no choice but to take to menial jobs. "Why must the protesters always take to a broom or shoe-brush? Why don't they milk cows? Are they not the preserve of certain castes?" asks a Dalit student.

The government, on its part, is readying what is being called a 'package formula', implying a policy that contains conciliatory gestures towards all sections. It was after it was faced with telling images of medical students being beaten up by the police that the government went on the defensive. The cabinet committee on political affairs hurriedly issued a statement about a formula that would be acceptable to everyone. A three-member panel consisting of HRD minister Arjun Singh, finance minister P. Chidambaram and defence minister Pranab Mukherjee are working on the framework.

Some of the suggestions are:

• A gradual implementation of quota in institutes of higher learning as opposed to a sudden imposition
  
• Increasing the number of seats concurrently
  
• Simultaneously setting up state-run schools which impart high quality education
  
• Aiming at 6 per cent GDP spend on education from the present 4.02 per cent.

Another formula comes from Knowledge Commission member P.M. Bhargava who has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh detailing the manner in which reservation could be finally eliminated in the next 15 years. The commission was set up by the PM last year to suggest a framework to turn India into a knowledge society based on the premise of socially inclusive educational institutions.

Here are Bhargava's recommendations spelt out in his letter: "A clear-cut unambiguous plan must be in place so that at the end of, say, 10 to 15 years, there are 4,00,000 high schools in the country, of the standard of our Central Schools or the so-called private/public schools. These schools should be run by the local government, and should be set up on the pattern of neighbourhood schools as in France or the US."

When this happens, Bhargava writes, "We should have every child in the country, irrespective of his or her background, have an equal opportunity of studying up to high school in a good school. When this happens, there would be no need for further reservations as was indeed planned when we became Independent. We should concurrently announce that during the 10 to 15 years period we have mentioned above, we would progressively reduce reservations from nearly 50 per cent to 0 per cent." For now, Bhargava lends support to Arjun Singh's 49.5 per cent reservation which comes into effect from 2007.

While Bhargava's proposal envisages a reservation-less future in academics, political parties which had passed the amendment in Parliament okaying reservation for OBCs are not changing their position.

It is tough for medical colleges to increase seats as the pressure on labs and hospital facilities is immense.

Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh of the Congress says too much is being read into the seats available at the IITs, IIMs and medical colleges—which put together account for nearly 30,000 seats. "The Congress is committed to reservation of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs in higher educational institutes. The modalities of working out the implementation may take time," he says.

But all formulas, including the staggered implementation of quota, have been rejected outright by the striking medical students. At New Delhi's premier medical college, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), students are protesting the loudest. For the past one week AIIMS has been put under seige by its own students who are camping on the faculty lawns, boycotting classes, striking work. Tempers are running high. The rhetoric is volatile. It is plain to see why doctors, in such large numbers, have been the first to jump into the anti-reservation cauldron. In one single act, striking medical internees have been able to bring essential health services to a standstill, and grab the state's attention, forcing it to put doctors from the army and the railways on stand by. An impact that could not have been achieved if, say, engineering students had taken to the streets. And the Delhi story is being repeated in Mumbai, Chandigarh and pockets of West Bengal, crippling health services.

Though the agitating students say essential emergency care and makeshift OPDs are in place, they grudgingly admit that health services have taken a hard hit. At AIIMS, ever since the agitation began, doctors outnumber the patients. The ailing have been forced to shift to private clinics and hospitals.

The students say they will be joined by their IIT and IIM counterparts. While Arjun Singh shows no signs of backing off, the doctors too are digging their heels in. They even have the backing of resident doctors and the faculty. Says senior resident doctor Dilpreet Singh, "All of us have decided to join in because this is not an individual battle. Reservation is not a solution, and while we are not protesting the quota for scheduled castes and tribes, anything above that is dangerous." When it is pointed out that patients were suffering on account of the strike, Dilpreet says the people will understand. "Eventually, it is for their good if qualified doctors tend to them." he says. While quality and merit are debatable issues, Dilpreet Singh's poser to Arjun Singh is: "If quota students have cleared their exams at the MBBS level, which is like a basic graduation degree, is there need for reservation at the post-graduation level?"

As for easing the increased pressure on seats, the government set the ball rolling when it asked the IITs and IIMs to raise its number of seats early this year. Kharagpur and Delhi have already started the process. But the same formula, some argue, is not applicable to medicine for two reasons. Guidelines drawn up by the Medical Council of India (MCI) say the ratio of students to teacher has to be maintained at 4:1. Also infrastructure like labs and hospital facilities have to be first put in place. This means huge financial inputs.

Given that there are 24,000 seats at the undergraduate level, of which 22.5 per cent seats are reserved for SC and ST, an increase in the number of seats, faculty members say, will have a severe impact on infrastructure, specially when most institutes do not have a full teaching staff. Says UGC member/neurosurgeon Dr P.N. Tandon, "More than 50 per cent government medical colleges do not have the required academic staff. The MCI has already recommended to the Centre to shut down 10 such medical colleges in the country."

Given such alarming facts, the striking students allege that the government has abdicated its responsibility of providing quality education. Even the faculty members of AIIMS are in favour of greater spending on primary education. But, stay out of specialised courses, is the message of Nutan Aggarwal, professor of gynaecology at AIIMS.

The political class is, meanwhile, all for quota. Even the BJP has only expressed concern about its implementation. In fact, many politicians wonder about the reason behind the agitation. Nilotpal Basu of the CPI(M) says he can't understand why the agitation is confined only to some parts of India, while the rest of the country remains calm. "Affirmative action is acceptable all over the world in proportion to the country's population and quota is a form of affirmative action accepted by India," says Basu. The PMK from Tamil Nadu even put up an impressive show in Delhi when its founder Dr S. Ramadoss said he was committed to reservations. Ironically, if quota has to be implemented at all in medical colleges, it is his son, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who will decide on the mechanics.

Arjun Singh may have become a hate object among a section of the student community. But he has been doggedly pursuing his pet reservation project. His stated position on quota has been clearly articulated—there is absolutely no question of going back now. The only problem is that the road ahead is heavily mined.