Even after the five cut off lists, 65.9% of seats reserved for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and 57% seats for Schedule Tribes (ST) are still vacant in colleges of Delhi University (DU).

As per the data shared by the admission team of Delhi University, over 67,000 students have been admitted against 62,000 seats in 63 colleges of Delhi University.

The official data on actual admissions by DU revealed that out of 6,700 EWS seats, only 2,291 have been filled resulting to 69.5% vacant seats in the category. Similarly, of the available 5,025 seats for ST candidates, only 2,162 (43%) got filled; and 8,448 (82%) of 10,050 seats available for SC candidate are filled as of now.

According to reservation policy, 50% of total seats are reserved for candidates belonging to OBC (27%), SC (15%) and ST category (7.5%) in all government institutions across India. Besides, Central Government has also introduced 10% EWS quota as well this year.

In 2019, 34,262 applications were received under the SC category, whereas 7,100 and 9,091 applications were received under ST and EWS categories respectively.

Discussing about the scenario, Hansraj Suman, chairperson of the DU’s SC, ST and OBC teachers’ association, said,  “The major reason behind this is that the colleges keep very high cut-offs for the reserved category students as well. There is marginal difference between the general category students and the EWS category. The cut-offs for even the SC, ST and OBC categories are also very high.”

With an aim to fulfill the Indian Government’s objectives of getting more international students and boosting research, Indian Institutes of Technology from December onwards will admit students and researchers from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Countries.

As per a plan recently prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), 1,000 students from ASEAN countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam etc would be given fellowships to undertake research in the IITs.

“The proposal is to offer 1,000 doctoral fellowships to students from Asean countries. The scheme is budgeted at around 300 crore and will be a part of the IIT system. It has been decided that the IIT at Delhi will be the nodal agency for the ASEAN n fellowships scheme. The first students would be admitted from December this year onwards,” a senior official said.

According to a committee led by the Higher Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam, IITs will, from their own resources, provide living expenses to these scholars.

“The Asean countries are traditional friends and India has historical linkages that span centuries. Many of them have quite good educational systems in place so we can expect quality students. It has also been decided that a system would be put in place with the help of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs to facilitate a fast track visa for the students selected under the programme,” said another official.

A majority of outstation candidates who got admission to Delhi University (DU) colleges for academic session 2019-20 are tackling new challenges like food, accommodation and language barriers.

Around 68,000 students have taken admission to undergraduate courses of Delhi University colleges with more than 50 percent students from outside the National Capital, revealed a university official. The academic session for DU started on July 20.

Stating about the challenges faced, Muskan Jain, BA Political Science (Honours) student from Kirori Mal College, said that accommodation is among the problems as a good place to stay is very expensive in Delhi. Jain is travelling from Sonepat which takes two-and-a- half hours on her way to college.

“Rents for paying guests around Kamla Nagar and Shakti Nagar are too expensive and hostel facilitates are extremely limited. Most of the co-ed colleges don’t have a dedicated girls’ hostel,” she said.

Mayank Shekhar Pandey from Gorakhpur is pursuing BA Sanskrit (Hons) from Ramjas College has similar concern of exorbitant rents in the national Capital.

“I had a lot of problem in finding a decent place to live. It took me a month to find a flat as the rent is not reasonable. It takes me 30 to 40 minutes to reach my college. I don’t have many facilities and have to cook, do my laundry and also clean the house,” he said.

“When I was in Gorakhpur, I didn’t have any financial restrictions but since I am living on my own now, I am given a fixed pocket money from which I have to pay my rent, transportation expenses and manage daily expenses,” Pandey further said.

Edwin Kipchirchir Kiptoo is from Kenya and is a student MSc in Chemistry from Kirori Mal College. Besides accommodation issues, he also has to deal with the language barrier.

“Since there are limited accommodations, it is really tough. For now, I am living someplace twenty minutes away from college. However, I am going to opt for a hostel in college. The admission process is another problem as I am not familiar with the process,” Kiptoo said.

Ragashree Sengupta from Bengaluru, a student of BA English (Honours), is also struggling with the language barrier.

“Being from South India, the biggest problem is the language barrier as Hindi is not widely spoken in Bengaluru,” Sengupta said.

Some Northeastern students also complained about feeling alienated in the national capital.

“I can understand Hindi but can’t confidently communicate in it. I already feel alienated after being stared at in just three days of my arrival in the capital,” Delphini Sorokhaibam from Manipur said.