The Congress party has highlighted a "concerning situation" regarding a high number of vacant faculty positions reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in central universities across India. This comes after the Modi government acknowledged the issue in a response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Disproportionate Vacancy Rates

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh presented data detailing the disparity in vacancy rates across various faculty levels. At the professor level, the figures indicate a stark imbalance:

* OBC: 80% of posts vacant

* ST: 83% of posts vacant

* SC: 64% of posts vacant

In contrast, the general category at the professor level has a vacancy rate of only 39%.

The trend continues at the associate professor level:

* OBC: 69% of posts vacant

* ST: 65% of posts vacant

* SC: 51% of posts vacant

For the general category, the vacancy rate stands at a mere 16%.

Even at the entry-level of assistant professor, significant disparities persist:

* OBC: 23% of posts vacant

* ST: 15% of posts vacant

* SC: 14% of posts vacant

The general category shows only 8% of posts vacant.

The "Not Found Suitable" issue

While the government has stated it does not centrally collect data on the "Not Found Suitable" (NFS) trend during faculty recruitment, the Congress party argues that the disproportionately higher vacancy rates in reserved categories are indicative of a systemic issue.

"The vacancy rate in reserved categories is significantly higher than in the general category, which suggests that candidates from these categories are being denied appointments by being labeled 'Not Found Suitable' (NFS)," Jairam Ramesh asserted.

The party claims that the use of "NFS" is being "weaponized against SC, ST, and OBC candidates to deprive them of equal employment opportunities and to undermine the constitutional provisions for reservation in the public sector."