Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) on Tuesday amended the rules for admission to MBBS and (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) BDS courses under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota so that the next of kin of an NRI can be considered under the quota, following an order issued by the Directorate of Medical Education & Research (DMER).
All medical and dental colleges in Punjab offer about 185 NRI quota seats for MBBS and 196 seats for BDS. However, a large portion of these seats remain vacant every year due to a lack of suitable candidates.
In the ongoing counselling for admission to postgraduate dental courses, all 12 seats for Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) for NRIs have remained vacant after two rounds of counselling. The fees for an MBBS seat are $1,10,000 (Rs 92, 29,022) in government and private medical colleges, while a BDS seat is $44,000 (Rs 36, 91,608). In Punjab, 15% of the total seats in private and government institutes are reserved for NRI candidates. Priyank Bharti, Secretary, DMER, issued the order partially amending the provisions for the NRI quota seats on Tuesday.
As per the amended provisions, the DMER has issued an order for admission to NRI quota seats. “Actual NRIs or their children originally belonging to the State of Punjab and actual NRIs or their children originally belonging to any Indian State or Union Territory other than Punjab shall be eligible for NRI quota seats. In case the seats for NRIs remain vacant after considering the above preferences, the candidates who are wards or immediate relatives of NRIs shall also be considered under NRI quota,” the order said.
“The degree of relationship with the NRI will be considered as per the following order of preference. He or she must be in the closest relationship. In defining the closest relationship, the following relationships will be considered as consanguineous: (a) Father’s true siblings i.e. uncle and true aunt. (b) Mother’s true siblings i.e. maternal uncle and maternal aunt. (c) Father’s father and mother i.e. grandfather and grandmother. (d) Mother’s father and mother i.e. maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother. (e) First cousins on both paternal and maternal sides,” it said.
“The person should be ordinarily resident abroad and should have taken care of the student as a guardian, which should be proved by such person before the committee in the form of an affidavit duly verified by the competent authority. Vacant seats in the NRI category remaining after the second round of counselling should be given to the NEET-qualified foreign nationals. However, if the seats remain vacant, they will be converted into general category seats. The fee of the NRI applicant shall be collected only from an NRI or NRE bank account,” the order further said.
As per the existing rules, NRIs or children of NRIs originally from Punjab and other Indian states can pursue MBBS and BDS courses under the NRI quota. As per the rules, the person sponsoring the student must be a first-degree relative of the student and must have ordinarily residence as an NRI abroad. The university has also issued a checklist for candidates seeking admission to the courses under the NRI quota.
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