I am Baliram Kumar, an applicant for Masters of Science in Quantitative Economics (MSQE) program at Indian Statistical Institute. According to the final PEA answer key, I am getting 65 in that paper. I was expecting that I would clear the PwD category cutoff. The sudden spike in the General category cutoff made it difficult for me to avail the required PwD concession. The admission policy at the institute states that PwD, SC, ST and OBC cut-off is dependent on the General cut-off.  PwD, SC and ST cut-off is fixed at 70 percent of the general cut off and it is 90 percent for the OBC (NCL). I am not selected for MSQE program because I could not obtain 70% of general cutoff for PwD category.  I am thinking that if I have got 70% privilege of general category then I will do better than 70% but it does not work like this. So, why this is compulsory to get 70% of general candidate? How do we determine cut-off for a reserved category student in relation to the general category? Will the institute not admit a single student if they cannot clear the relative cut-off dependent on the general category? It seems so, as the Institute has not selected a single student in the PwD category for the said course and many other courses, including the bachelor courses. Also, many courses have lesser than the allocated students for the SC and ST category.

It would be great if you could consider some relaxation in the admission policy. It would be helpful if the cut-off for the reserved category is delinked from the general category and the already marginalized students are not made to suffer from such an exclusionary policy. If there is a policy that keeps a minimum qualification for the reserved category, as it is followed by other central government institutions, it would help marginalized students to be admitted in such a reputed institute and take advantage of the education available for everyone. Such a policy would help the institute to fill the seats allocated for the reserved category