Odisha nearly doubles SC, ST quotas in medical, engineering seats

The Odisha government has significantly expanded reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students across medical, engineering and other higher and technical education courses, nearly doubling their quotas in a sweeping policy shift approved late April 4.

The cabinet, led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, cleared the revised reservation structure, which will now be implemented across all state universities, affiliated colleges, educational institutions, ITIs and polytechnics.

Under the new framework, reservation for ST students has been increased from 12% to 22.50%, while that for SC students has risen from 8% to 16.25%, aligning quotas more closely with their population share in the state. In a major addition, 11.25% of seats have been earmarked for socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC), who were previously outside the reservation net.

Officials said the combined reservation has been kept within the 50% ceiling by balancing the newly introduced SEBC quota with the expanded SC and ST shares.

The revised policy will cover a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, technology, management, computer applications, medicine, surgery, dental sciences, nursing, pharmacy and allied health sciences. It will also extend to courses in veterinary science, ayurveda, homeopathy, agriculture, architecture, planning and cinematic arts, among others.

The impact is particularly visible in medical education. Of the 2,421 undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats in the state, 545 will now be reserved for ST students, up from 290 earlier. SC seats have increased from 193 to 393, while 272 seats will be set aside for SEBC candidates.

In engineering, out of 44,579 seats, 10,030 will be reserved for ST students, 7,244 for SC students and 5,015 for SEBC candidates. Previously, the figures stood at 5,349 for ST and 3,566 for SC students.

Defending the move, Majhi said the earlier reservation levels were significantly lower than the population share of SC and ST communities and excluded backward classes altogether, creating barriers to equitable access.