Students march towards Parliament

New Delhi: The protests against the proposed 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes began early on Friday morning with nearly 500 students from IIT-Delhi taking to streets and marching towards Parliament.

They were joined by students of medical colleges, Delhi University, JNU, IP University, and resident doctors from across the city.

Students AIIMS and MAMC also remained on mass casual leave for the second day today in protest against the Centre's decision to implement the OBC quota.

Out of the resident doctors on mass leave in AIIMS, 300 will remain in the institute to attend the patients.''We do not want to cause any inconvinience to the patients and that is why 300 resident doctors will remain in the institute and attend patients if required.''

The march started from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) and would wind its way through Jantar Mantar.

Heavy police deployment has been made along the route.

''We will try and persuade the government not to table the bill till our concerns are addressed and do everything possible to achieve that,'' AIIMS RDA General Secretary and Youth for Equality leader Dr Arnab Kumar said.

He said the students will try and demonstrate in a peaceful manner.

Essential services in AIIMS on Thursday functioned normally. But OPD services were affected with patients having to wait in long queues for their turn.

Several anti-reservation protestors were injured and scores detained during a demonstration in the capital yesterday as police used water cannon and teargas to stop them from marching towards the Supreme Court.

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Police used water cannon and teargas shells to disperse scores of demonstrators as they were trying to form a ''human chain'' near the court and submit a memorandum to the court registrar.

Angry students and residents doctors, raising anti-government, anti-reservation and anti-Arjun Singh slogans and carrying flags and placards, held demonstrations near India Gate against the Government's move to implement OBC quota in institutes of higher education.

While the protestors, wearing black arm bands, were trying to move towards the Supreme Court, where prohibitory orders are in place, Rapid Action Force and Delhi police stopped them.

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Outrage across India

At least 10 medicos were injured in Kolkata, when police baton-charged protestors who blocked the busy Chittaranjan Avenue and Bowbazar street. A total of 182 protestors were arrested, officials said.

Twenty people were injured in Jaipur in a clash between protestors and policemen when a group of medicos tried to enter the venue of a meeting being addressed by the Rajasthan governor.

Protests were also organised in Indore, Kanpur, Varanasi and Mumbai, where students of the Indian Institute of Technology opposed the Centre's decision to introduce 27 reservations for OBCs in government-aided educational institutions.

Students of IIT-Kanpur, whose protest was backed the faculty, did not attend classes. Some 300 students of the Indian Institute of Management-Indore joined a candle-light protest rally.

The protests brought back memories of the stir by medicos in May that had severely affected the functioning of healthcare facilities in several cities.

The legislation, which is an enabling law arising out of passage of the constitution 93rd amendment Bill last year, is not expected not to induct the creamy-layer concept by which children of the affluent belonging to the depressed classes will also be entitled to reservation.

Against the demand of important UPA constituents DMK and UPA, the measure is expected to provide for only staggered implementation of the reservation proposal over a period of three years starting from the next academic session in 2006-07.