📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Abhishek727 Abhishek Mishra
Education
ASP and JAY Movement Protest in Bhopal Demands 14 Foreign Study Seats and 27% OBC Reservation
✍️ Amar Ujala · Bhopal
🗓 17 Oct 2026, 05:16 PM
👁 16
Activists from the Azad Samaj Party and JAY Movement staged a protest in Bhopal, urging the state government to approve 14 pending foreign‑study scholarships and enforce a 27% reservation for OBCs, issuing a three‑day ultimatum.
Bhopal witnessed a sizable demonstration today as members of the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) and the JAY Movement representing OBC interests gathered outside the state secretariat. The protesters, many of them students and recent graduates, raised placards demanding swift action on two pending issues.
The core demands were the approval of fourteen vacant seats for overseas study scholarships that have remained unfilled for months, and the implementation of a 27 percent reservation quota for Other Backward Classes in higher education institutions. Activists argued that the delay deprives eligible OBC candidates of both educational opportunities and constitutional benefits.
Organisers handed a written ultimatum to the Madhya Pradesh government, stipulating a three‑day window for the authorities to clear the scholarship vacancies and enforce the reservation policy. They warned that failure to comply would lead to intensified protests across the state.
While the state’s education department has not issued an official response yet, officials earlier indicated procedural bottlenecks in scholarship allocation. The protest underscores growing pressure on policymakers to address long‑standing grievances of OBC communities regarding access to quality education.
The core demands were the approval of fourteen vacant seats for overseas study scholarships that have remained unfilled for months, and the implementation of a 27 percent reservation quota for Other Backward Classes in higher education institutions. Activists argued that the delay deprives eligible OBC candidates of both educational opportunities and constitutional benefits.
Organisers handed a written ultimatum to the Madhya Pradesh government, stipulating a three‑day window for the authorities to clear the scholarship vacancies and enforce the reservation policy. They warned that failure to comply would lead to intensified protests across the state.
While the state’s education department has not issued an official response yet, officials earlier indicated procedural bottlenecks in scholarship allocation. The protest underscores growing pressure on policymakers to address long‑standing grievances of OBC communities regarding access to quality education.