In the batch of 2009-11 academic session of IIM Calcutta, six OBC candidates have made it to the premier management institute in the general category.

“It is good to see that the OBC students have made it on merit. The institute never had separate reservations for the OBCs and till two years ago, we had no idea of all this,” said Prashant Mishra, the chairman of Post Graduate Programme (PGP) at the IIM Calcutta.

Institute officials also claimed that a similar number of students from the OBC category had made it to the IIMs last year on the merit basis.

Officials say that OBC reservations have been in place for the last two years only and before that the institution had no special provision for them.

This year, the intake at the IIM Calcutta is 408 students in the post graduate programme. As per the phased intake, the number of OBC students this year is 74, which is 18 per cent of the overall strength. The institute has planned to increase the intake in a phased manner to reach the desired goal of 28 per cent intake of OBC candidates in three years.

IIM Calcutta has also inducted 53 candidates in the SC category, 15 candidates in the ST category and 12 candidates in the physically handicapped category.

IIM officials, however, said that barring the OBC candidates, none of the reserved category candidates have made it to the general category.

Officials point out that the cut-off between the general category and the OBC category varies marginally when compared to that of the SC/ST category.

Yet, not opting for reservation even when someone has the opportunity is a brave initiative, the officials of the institute said.

The profile of the 2009-11 batch reflects the dominance of students with an engineering background.

“About 93 per cent candidates admitted to the post-graduate programme are from engineering background and the rest are from all the different academic backgrounds like science, commerce and arts,” said Subrata Moitra, the

admission in-charge of IIM Calcutta.

Moitra, however, said that a doctor has also made it to the premier management institute. Statistics reveal that 63 per cent students who have made it to the IIM

Calcutta have some sort of work experience.