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Doctors strike against caste quota in India
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 21, 2006
NEW DELHI - Thousands of striking doctors and medical students marched to India's Parliament on Saturday in the seventh day of protests against a government affirmative action program for low-caste students. The protesters chanted slogans condemning quotas for low-caste Hindus and ethnic minority students and carried placards reading "Caste vs. competence" and "Youth for Equality." The doctors were joined by college students, lawyers and accountants in the march, which culminated in a rally near Parliament. The government has announced plans to increase the quotas in state-funded medical, engineering and other professional colleges from 22.5 percent to 49.5 percent. With the strike crippling medical care in public hospitals in New Delhi and other cities, authorities asked army doctors to help run emergency services for thousands of impoverished patients. Despite laws against discrimination, India's lower castes - 80 percent of India's 1-billion people by government estimates - are still at the bottom when it comes to education, income, employment, asset ownership and debt. It remains rare for lower-caste Indians to hold a high-paying job that requires advanced schooling.
[Last modified May 21, 2006, 07:54:55]
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