Latest news with #OBC-related
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
UG admission portal opens at 10 am today to fill 9 lakh seats
Kolkata: The centralised undergraduate admission portal, inaugurated by education minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday, will start receiving applications from 10 am on Wednesday for nine lakh seats across 460 colleges and 17 universities in Bengal. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Minority and autonomous institutes as well as unitary universities, such as Presidency University and Jadavpur University, are not under the centralised portal. BEd and fine and performing arts courses at Rabindra Bharati University are excluded, too. Hours before the Calcutta High Court stayed a gazette notification on OBC, including 140 subgroups, 80 among which are Muslims, till July 31, Basu told reporters the OBC-related case at the HC would not affect admissions. "There will be no impact. Should agricultural work stop because of predictions of drought or heavy rain? We will continue our work. If there is any instruction, we will take emergency measures," he said. Another official, too, urged students to go ahead with admissions. Each candidate can apply for 25 programmes or courses at one or multiple institutes in the state. The last date for applications is July 1, the first merit list will be published on July 6, and the first round of admissions will be held between July 6 and July 12. No application fee will be required, and students from any part of the country can apply. Basu said, "Last year, more than 4.4 lakh students took admission through this portal. The system ensures a transparent, systematic and easy-to-access process. Candidates can opt for courses and institutes of their choice on this single-window platform. It stops students from taking multiple admissions at the same time. A chatbot, 'Bina', will help candidates navigate through the process." Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Once the merit list is published, students can book a seat, which can be upgraded in the next round, subject to seat vacancy and merit position. Applicants can keep tabs on their status on a dashboard. Candidates will pay once through the portal while taking provisional admission. "But they may have to pay extra if they go in for a seat upgrade, depending on the institute fee," said an official. "Eligible applicants will be notified via SMS and email. " On the delay in the opening of the admission portal and apprehensions about filling seats, Basu said, "Admissions were stalled due to the OBC-reservation issue. But once the backward classes welfare department published the gazette notification, we opened the portal in seven days. We are on a par with the UGC timeline. We plan to rationalise seats—increase seats for subjects in demand and at colleges, where the rush is more. "
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
OBC block cleared, revised lists out
Kolkata: The state govt has published the revised OBC lists in a gazette notification, clearing the legal bottlenecks for the school and college admission process. Jadavpur University arts faculty admission committee held a meeting on Friday, where it was decided that the admission process would begin on Wednesday. "The notification will be published on Tuesday, and students can start applying to arts courses from Wednesday until July 2. All arts departments, except philosophy, sociology, and Sanskrit, will conduct admission tests between July 14 and 18. Admissions will be around the first week of Aug, and classes will start either in the second or third week of Aug," said a teacher. JU was scheduled to start its admission process on May 19 but kept its UG admission in abeyance until further notice due to an OBC reservation-related dispute. A member of the arts faculty admission committee said, "The OBC-related complication has been sorted as the gazette notification has been published. So, we decided to open our portal and start admission for arts subjects." JU doesn't fall under the centralized admission portal and conducts its own admission test. Sources said the science faculty might hold their admission committee meeting on Monday to decide on the UG admission to science subjects. Calcutta University, however, is yet to take a call. CU registrar Debasis Das said, "We are still waiting for final approval from the BCW to start the admission procedure for our in-house courses. The admission procedure for our affiliated colleges will be through the centralised portal." Ex-Judge Ashim Kumar Banerjee, state commission for backward classes chairperson, said, "Our job is to identify communities and recommend their reservations under OBC category for mainstreaming." Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
Time of India
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Suspend ‘in-house' subject admission plans, state tells CU
1 2 3 Kolkata: The state higher education department has instructed Calcutta University to suspend its plans to open admissions for a few 'in-house' undergraduate courses, indicating that the centralised admission portal will start functioning shortly. Calcutta University made a decision following a faculty council meeting held on May 21 to initiate admission procedures for some 'in-house' UG courses like food and nutrition, human development, and music, leaving OBC criteria aside primarily to avoid legal issues. However, after the decision, the advertisement for admission was not published. Sources said officials from the higher education department told the university to slow down and not start the admission process before the centralised admission portal (CAP) goes live. A CU official said, "There should be parity between all undergraduate courses run across affiliated colleges and the university. We cannot start classes until the official date is declared by the state higher education department. We are ready to start the admission process any day as we are completely prepared." Calcutta University's interim vice-chancellor Santa Datta Dey said, "We are more concerned about the undergraduate courses across all our affiliated colleges that have been waiting for the admission process to begin. We took a decision for our in-house UG courses, but the entire system is stalled due to the OBC-related matter. How long will students wait in this uncertainty? The admission process can begin leaving this reservation-related dispute, and alternative arrangements can be made after the matter is resolved. " She also indicated that they were still consulting lawyers to get clear ideas about all legal provisions related to this matter. All 159 affiliated colleges under CU and other colleges and universities that admit students through the centralised admission portal are still waiting for the portal's commencement date. Rabindra Bharati University conducts UG admissions for fine arts and visual arts on its own, while admissions for other subjects is conducted through the admission portal. RBU has not decided any date for the commencement of admissions. However, private and autonomous institutions are midway through the process. Colleges like St Xavier's, Scottish Church and Shri Shikshayatan have already closed their admission portals and started publishing merit lists, too. A CU college principal said, "Private colleges are wrapping up their admissions while we are still uncertain about the commencement date. This is a clear sign of a challenge to fill seats this year, too. At the same time, Bengal will lose bright students as they will not wait for this delay."
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Undergraduate admissions through centralised portal to start next wk
1 2 Kolkata: Undergraduate admissions through the centralized admission portal (CAP) are set to start next week. State education minister Bratya Basu clarified on Sunday that the legal issue over reservations for OBC candidates would not impact the overall admission procedure. UG admissions across 460-odd colleges and universities in Bengal through the centralised portal has been stalled owing to the OBC-related case in the Supreme Court. The education department has written to the advocate-general (AG), seeking clarification on starting college admissions. "This is an ongoing legal matter, and the higher authority is looking into it. We are waiting for the final nod from the higher authority to start admissions. The centralized admission portal was launched last year, and this year, too, admissions will be conducted on it smoothly. Legal issues will not impact the overall admission process," said Basu after the 33rd annual general meeting and annual conference of All Bengal Principals' Council on Sunday. However, private and autonomous colleges, which are not part of the centralised portal, such as St Xavier's College and Ramakrishna Mission institutes, have started their admissions. An official said the portal was ready and it would be opened once the higher education department gave the go-ahead. Senior officials of the department hinted at the possible elimination of the OBC criteria from the UG level to avoid further legal issues, but everything depended on the reply from the AG. However, Basu made it clear on Sunday that everything depends on the final nod on this matter from the higher authorities. A higher education department official pointed out that among the reserved seats, those set aside for the OBC category had the highest number of takers and at the end of the admission process, hardly any vacancy was reported in that slot. College principals are also concerned about filling up seats as admissions under the centralised portal are yet to start, while private and autonomous colleges and universities are already conducting the process. The principal of a north Kolkata college said, "We received some enquiries from applicants who asked about the tentative date for the opening of the admission portal. We told them to keep an eye on the website as the entire process will be online." Basu, too, reiterated that "this would not be a major issue and would not impact the admission". "Last time, there were some vacancies in some particular subjects that might remain vacant this year, too, but overall, admissions through the centralised portal would be smooth, just like last year," he said. Asutosh College principal Manas Kabi said they had full faith in the govt and that they hoped the process would start soon. New Alipore College principal Jaydeep Sarangi said, "Today, we couldn't get any time to discuss the matter, but we are hopeful about admissions beginning shortly."
