Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) has allotted a total of 159 seats reserved for women. The amendment was made in the first round allocation list, which was released on June 27. The move will help improve women's representation at the institute. It is likely to double women students’ seats, from around 8 per cent to roughly 16.5 per cent this year.
The data availed from the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), 2018, revealed that 63 extra seats for women candidates were added to the existing pool at the institute this year in accordance with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
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The added seats will be at least 16.5 percent this year, based on reservation.
The remaining seats at the institute are gender-neutral. Therefore, there are more chances that the percentage of women students can increase. It will increase if women candidates take admission in the gender-neutral category
There are about 963 seats at the institute with about 18 subjects. Out of this, 159 seats have been allotted to women candidates.
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A senior official from the JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority) said, “There is an existing pool of seats reserved for women at institutes already. The supernumerary seats were added to this pool. Seats have been allocated accordingly.”
The move aims to increase the visibility of women students at IIT as compared to the past. Last year also, a meagre 9.15 per cent of the seats across all 23 IITs were taken up by women. To increase the representation of women students at IITs, the IIT Council decided to add supernumerary seats at IITs. The councils target at about 14 per cent female enrolment in 2018. A total of 779 supernumerary seats were added across all IITs and reserved for women candidates.
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The JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority) conducts admissions for all National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and other Government-funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs). The first rank for admissions to IIT-B is 1, which means entry to the institute starts with the first rank holder of the Joint Entrance Exam.
As per the MHRD direction, the JoSAA had to lower the eligibility criteria this year. The direction was to ensure more students could apply to IITs. As per the results, a total of 31,988 candidates are entitled qualified for admissions to 11,290 seats across 23 IITs. Seven rounds of allocations will be conducted by the JoSAA in order to minimise vacancies.
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