[CM’s Dasara gift: AP gets more colleges, pg.3, Hyd. Edition]The Chief Minister has announced a festival gift to the citizens of the state by sanctioning a conventional university, three medical colleges and two engineering colleges covering the three regions Andhra, Telangana and Rayalseema. Sanctioning autonomy to the 11 medical colleges is under active consideration. The location chosen by the Government to set up these institutions need special mention, as they are to be set up in the most backward and under developed districts.What comes, as a surprise though, is the acumen of the CM in selecting the right timing, as his government is in a crisis in the form of a vociferous demand for separate statehood for Telangana. Right now the medical colleges are facing a staff crunch and the stringent recruitment procedures makes it a Herculean task. Granting autonomy to the medical college is the correct solution to solve the problem, as the managements can appoint visiting emeritus professors to abridge the gap.The chief minister who is he a medical doctor by education knows first hand what it takes to become a professional. At present there are eleven government run medical colleges and twenty-one private colleges in the state. When the ratio is skewed to private sector, meritorious students of the socially and economically backward classes are deprived of their legitimate admissions. By starting three more medical colleges, at least a few more meritorious students can afford medical education, which is otherwise impossible as a student in a private college had to spend at least Rs.5 lakhs to complete his education. If the government provides scholarships to meritorious candidates of even the private colleges, then the dreams of many of the aspirants would be fulfilled.