Hundreds of students of Orissa's four medical colleges Thursday took out a rally in Bhubaneswar in protest against the proposed 27 per cent reservation for other backward communities in higher studies.

Students of MKCG medical college, Berhampur, VSS medical college, Burla, SCB medical college, Cuttack and Hi-Tech medical college, Bhubaneswar burnt an effigy of the Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh [Images] and shouted slogans against him.

Complete coverage: The quota controversy 

"Arjun Singh is out to destroy the future of the country. Let talent decide who is eligible," MKCG medical college students' union president Santosh Kumar Nanda said.

Donning white aprons, the agitators under the banner Orissa Medical Students' Association, took out the rally from Bhubaneswar railway station to the Raj Bhavan. "We will submit the memorandum to Governor Rameswar Thakur and apprise him about the state of affairs," Nanda said.

Brahma Dutta Patnaik, students union president at the SCB medical college, said "the Union government has resorted to this with an eye on votes in which talent is being sacrificed for temporary and cheap gains".