The growing outrage over the capitation fee scam in the country's medical colleges found strong expression in both Houses of Parliament on Monday. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in attendance, the Rajya Sabha witnessed a slanging match, with an AIADMK member insinuating that ``tainted'' DMK ministers did little credit to the government.
Raising the issue of the sale of seats in medical colleges — highlighted last week by a TOI-Times Now expose — BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi said that private medical colleges were extracting Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore for a post-graduate seat.
Joshi, who was speaking during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, argued for a comprehensive revamp of policies to stop what he called the auction of seats in medical colleges. He also focused on the political aspect of the scam, saying ``those who are part of the government are also involved''.
In the Rajya Sabha, AIADMK MP V Maitreyan echoed the allegations, singling out ministers from Tamil Nadu. Citing the TOI report which appeared last week, Maitreyan turned towards the PM and said: ``This clearly shows how tainted your ministers are.''
Though Maitreyan did not take the name of any minister, his remarks were clearly aimed at DMK's Union minister of state for information and broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan who is the chairman of Shree Balaji Medical College and Hospital -- one of the medical colleges which allegedly demanded huge money for an MBBS seat.
The issue of capitation fee being extorted by medical colleges in brazen violation of the SC order and with the suspected connivance of the regulator has come under the scrutiny of policy-makers since the TOI-Times Now expose. On Sunday, HRD minister Kapil Sibal had said that the government was working on a policy to banish the malaise of capitation fee from deemed universities as well as other institutions.
``Don't worry, we are aware of it. We will take a holistic view and a cohesive structure will be put in place to deal with all the issues, not only in universities, but also in all institutions,'' he said in an interview.
On Monday, raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Joshi said that the continuing extraction of capitation fees tilted the field in favour of the rich. With the demand far outstripping the availability, only the rich could have access to such education, the former HRD minister regretted.
He also emphasized that the menace of capitation fee was unlikely to stop till government made attempts to increase the number of seats, pointing out that there were just a few thousand post-grduate seats available in the billion-plus country.
He said US had ten times more such seats than India and many Indian students prefer to go to America for higher studies. ``This, in turn, has led to unavailability of specialist doctors including cardiologists in the country,'' Joshi argued.
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