Events
In an incident on 13 May, medical students protesting in Mumbai were lathi-charged (baton-charged) by the police. The protest had been previously banned by the High Court. The nationwide strike launched by "Anti-reservation" medical students protesting against the lathi-charge, was later joined by like-minded resident doctors from all over India.
The government took measures to counter the protesting doctors by serving them with suspension letters and asking them to vacate the hostels to make way for newly recruited doctors. Some states invoked the 'Essential Services Maintenance Act' (ESMA) and gave notices to the doctors to return to work, failing which legal action would be taken against them. The government also put on alert 6,000 men from Rapid Action Force to take care of any untoward incident. However, in most places the protesters remained defiant despite ESMA. In Delhi, a human chain rally was organized on 20 May, by students of IIT Delhi with the support of PAN IIT. Nearly 150 students went on a 'relay' hunger strike in AIIMS (Delhi) which, lasted for about a month.
A resolution, signed by 2,500 IIT Roorkee students and expressing their opposition, was sent to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Election Commission, and a deaf ear was turned to it. A peaceful protest march was organised on 23 May. The following were the demands made by the 'Youth for Equality', the anti reservation student body leading the protests:
- Roll back of the proposed hike in reservations
- Setting up of an academic, non-political panel of experts to review the existing reservation policy and explore alternate forms of affirmative action
- Vacant positions in reserved government jobs to be thrown open for other eligible candidates
- No penal action be taken against the protesters
- A white paper issued on the reservation policy and a concrete statement on the issue by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh
Several students at the IIT Guwahati decided to boycott classes to protest against the government proposal led by an undergraduate student from Mechanical Engineering Department, Class of 2007, Mr. Shailendra Kumar Mishra. Mr. Mishra went on a three day hunger strike to protest against the same. His selfless contributions to the society were later translated into a Public Interest Litigation filed at the District Court of Guwahati City. In Jaipur, hundreds of striking anti-quota resident doctors went on a door-to-door campaign in Jaipur to garner support for a rally. The doctors affiliated to 'Youth for Equality' began their Jan Samarthan padyatra in the High Court and Banipark areas. In Chennai, more than a hundred students from IIT Madras and city medical colleges protested in front of the government guesthouse in Chepauk
After the government reaffirmed its commitment to implementing reservations, the protesters called for a "Civil disobedience movement". Their protests were also supported by the traders in Delhi, who threatened to shut shops if the government doesn't roll back on its decision. The AIIMS Faculty Association went on a mass casual leave from 25 May 2006 to support the anti-quota stir, but made it clear that basic health-care services would not be disrupted. Whether health care services were really unaffected is questionable. On 27 May 2006, a massive rally was organised in Delhi. The rally was attended by participants from all over India, numbering almost 1 lakh. It was declared that the strike by students and junior doctors would continue.
On 28 May 2006, the government set up an 'Oversight Committee' to "prepare a road map with a time-bound programme to implement 27 per cent reservation for OBCs without compromising merit and addressing apprehensions aired by students propose an effective way to implement reservations keeping the interests of all sections of society in mind". This committee, headed by former Karnataka Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily, will submit its report by 31 August 2006.
On 31 May 2006, in deference to the Supreme Court directive, resident doctors resumed hospital works from 1 June 2006, as the health service was affected seriously due to the strike. However, protest from the part of students (both medical and other streams) has continued and a national coordination committee comprising representatives of medical colleges, IITs and several other educational institutions has been proposed to be formed to lead the agitation. The Supreme Court has also sought the government to clarify the basis on which the reservation policy was being implemented.
Read more about this topic: 2006 Indian Anti-reservation Protests
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