(Recasts with immolation attempt and background)

By Bappa Majumdar

KOLKATA, India, May 27 (Reuters) - A protester tried to immolate himself on Saturday as part of a three-week strike by Indian medical staff against higher college quotas for lower castes, but witnesses said he was stopped by police.

Television footage showed the protester, reported to be a medical student, wincing in pain from burns to the upper body as he was put in a police vehicle to be taken to hospital. Ajit Singh, a private doctor, said the burns were "not serious".

Thousands of mainly upper-caste doctors, professionals and students took part in the demonstration in New Delhi, ignoring an appeal by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to end a strike that has disrupted state medical services in many parts of India.

Discrimination through the ancient Hindu social system of caste is banned in India but remains a major cause of division and even violence. Lower caste people have traditionally had less chances for quality education and prize government jobs.

In the eastern city of Kolkata, upper-caste junior doctors padlocked out-patient departments in state hospitals. About 5,000 anti-quota protesters later marched in the heart of the city, causing huge traffic jams.

Some of the protesters carried banners reading "No dunce-cracy, only democracy", suggesting quotas for lower castes would reduce academic standards.

MEDICAL TREATMENT

In many cities, people were desperately seeking medical treatment.

"I have come to the hospital for three days in a row without any hope of getting treated," 53-year-old Sukhiya Bibi, suffering from kidney problems, said in Kolkata.

Singh met protesting students for the first time on Thursday, promising massive expansion in higher education to create more places overall and not just for lower castes.

But many protesters were unconvinced.

"The government is dangling carrots in front of us, but we are in no mood to call off our strike," said Nikhil Ranjan, a spokesman for the striking junior doctors in Kolkata. "They have to give us a written assurance."

The government proposal would mean nearly half the places in state medical, engineering and management colleges and universities would be set aside for lower castes and tribes, and that these students would need lower marks for admission.

"These politicians are taking this country backward," Anuj Thakaral, a doctor at a cancer institute, said in New Delhi. "People of no merit are being advanced because the government will do anything for votes."

In the past some castes would not allow members of other castes to touch them and would have washed themselves or their possessions if they had been touched by someone from a lower caste. Groups are common in highly stratified societies.

In 1990, dozens of upper-caste students burned themselves to death in protest against an increase in quotas for lower castes in government jobs.

(Additional reporting by Kamil Zaheer and Kamil Zaheer in NEW DELHI)

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