The Tamil Nadu government is expecting the President’s assent on the anti-NEET bill, sent to the Center by Governor RN Ravi, which proposes to admit students to medical colleges on the basis of Class 12 marks.
According to the Tamil Nadu government, the centralized examination, which is conducted in just one day, puts immense pressure on the students especially from the economically backward and rural backgrounds.
To be precise, engineering candidates have both central and state-level exams, while medical candidates have only one entrance exam for national and state-level college admissions – NEET.
National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) Organized by National Testing Agency across the country for MBBS and BDS programs in Medical and Dental colleges. It is mandatory to qualify NEET exam for admission in medical colleges across India.
Why is Tamil Nadu government opposing NEET?
Despite being an exam with more than 15 lakh students appearing for the exam almost every year, competitive exams are not that popular in Tamil Nadu. It is not only DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) opposing NEET but all major political parties and agitations in Tamil Nadu including AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), PMK, MDMK, VCK, Tamil Nadu Congress are against NEET.
On a broader view, Tamil Nadu opposed NEET, claiming that there was no entrance exam culture in the state till 2007. After the introduction of NEET, students started opting for coaching to crack entrance exams, which was an injustice to the students living in rural and economically. backward.
Read | NEET PG not postponed, Twitter demands ‘justice for doctors’
When the MK Stalin-led DMK government came to power in 2021, a panel headed by retired judge AK Rajan was set up to study the effects of NEET exam on medical candidates from socially backward classes in medical admissions in Tamil Nadu. had gone. A state-wide survey was conducted by the team and a report titled ‘Impact of NEET on Medical Admissions in Tamil Nadu’ was filed.
The 165-page report of the AK Rajan Committee submitted to the state government was released by the Tamil Nadu government on September 20 last year. In this context, in a series of assembly sessions, a bill has been passed in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly calling for the scrapping of the medical entrance exam- NEET. AK Rajan’s report states that the state government can immediately take legal action to cancel the NEET exam. Further, the report suggested that a separate law may be enacted to repeal NEET and obtain the approval of the President of India. The enactment of the NEET Cancellation Act will ensure social justice to the vulnerable student communities in admission to medical studies.
The report also stated that the qualifying examination would be Take the State to the ‘Pre-Independence Days’ And the state government wants to end it at all levels by following the necessary legal procedures. It also specified that the enrollment of rural students in medical education has been declining since the introduction of NEET and rural hospitals will not have enough doctors if the NEET exam continues. Ultimately the health system of Tamil Nadu will be badly affected.
In the last four years, after the implementation of NEET, there has been an average decline of 11.2 per cent share of medical admissions in important social categories in Tamil Nadu; It has been said in the report that only after 7.5 percent reservation, students of government schools are able to join medical courses. Clearly, the Tamil Nadu government is strong in its stand and is saying NEET favored the rich and elite sections of the society and not the weaker sections. Another argument made by him was regarding the difference in the syllabus of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the state boards.
Speaking to News18, AK Rajan earlier said, “It is for the central government to stop the establishment and regulation of universities. Only the state governments have the power to do so. According to the legal amendment brought in 2007, NEET can be exempted from the examination. The Modern Dental College judgment came in 2016, in which a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had approved admission to 66 lists and did not include admission of students in universities. It comes under entry 25′ only.
Subsequently, when the Russo-Ukraine war broke out months ago, Indian students usually returning to Ukraine shared their reasons for studying abroad such as expensive tuition fees and limited options at private colleges in India. Most of the students appeared for NEET entrance exam more than twice but could not qualify and decided to go abroad to fulfill their dreams of becoming a doctor. But the dream is no longer fulfilled due to the war situation.
Apparently, the death of Naveen Shekharappa, a native of Karnataka- a university medical student in Kharkiv, Ukraine, has triggered protests against NEET. Kannada organizations ran a Twitter during March this year Campaigns with the hashtag ‘Bunnit’,
After Tamil Nadu, Karnataka also raised its voice against NEET. Former Chief Minister and JD(S)- Kumaraswamy, in a series of tweets, opposed NEET calling it the ‘death knell’ for the dreams of poor and rural students who want to study medicine. The ‘shameless face’ of NEET has been exposed due to the failure of a meritorious rural student like Naveen to get a medical seat in the country. His death in Ukraine is a question for the conscience of India. Meanwhile, Congress leader Siddaramaiah slammed the BJP government in Delhi, tweeting, “This is not the right time to debate the adverse impact of the chaos created by the implementation of NEET by the Narendra Modi government to bring about uniformity.”
How did the protest against NEET change the mass movement?
Over a period of years, the anti-NEET wave turned into the People’s Movement with the effect of the suicide of Ariyalur Anita, not only a political party opposing NEET. On September 1, 2017, she died of suicide due to NEET, which created a huge controversy in the state. She was among the toppers of her district in class 12th. She was the only student from Ariyalur district to score 100 per cent marks in Mathematics and Physics in the Class 12 board exams.
In 2021, three NEET aspirants in Tamil Nadu committed suicide in a span of weeks due to fear of NEET. This is not the first sequence of student suicides in Tamil Nadu. During September 2020, five students died by suicide in the state, days before the NEET exam was to be conducted amid the COVID-19 crisis.
For the past few years, students, parents, teachers and political parties in TN have been protesting against the cancellation of the exam. In 2020 the Madras High Court also said that the NEET exam is discriminatory for the poor students of the state. Two students committed suicide in Tamil Nadu soon after the NEET 2019 result was declared.
In addition, the election promise to abolish NEET from Tamil Nadu played a major role during the parliamentary elections in 2019 and the state assembly elections in 2021. All parties in Tamil Nadu have the same ideology on NEET protest, except the state BJP, which is also Tamil Nadu. to stand.
What is the NEET Exemption Bill about?
Last year, after the MK Stalin-led DMK government came to power, the anti-NEET bill was introduced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly for the first time after a 19-year-old medical candidate from Salem died by suicide at his home during September. The exam was held a few hours before NEET.
In short, the NEET Exemption Bill refers to ensuring ‘social justice for student communities vulnerable to discrimination against admission to medical programmes’. Also, diverse social representation in MBBS and higher medical studies, mainly in favor of the economical and affluent sections of the society and thwarting the dreams of disadvantaged social groups’.
Tamil Nadu government is of the view that ‘the only way to ensure a strong public health service across the state, especially in rural areas is to admit students to medical colleges on the basis of class 12 marks’ .
Meanwhile, AK Rajan’s report also states that no student from rural or economically backward background will attempt to appear for NEET more than once. Whereas students from a wealthy and elite class will be able to attend more than twice because they are affordable. CM MK Stalin also said that the 19-year-old aspirant who died by suicide was disappointed that he could not clear the exam despite appearing twice.
Seeking support for the Tamil Nadu government’s fight against NEET, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin wrote to his counterparts in 12 states during October last year, calling for united efforts to restore states’ primacy in the administration of the education sector, As originally envisioned in the Constitution. His letter was addressed to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and West Bengal.
In addition, the NEET exemption bill, sent to Governor RN Ravi in September 2021 following the death of a Salem student, was returned to the Tamil Nadu government last year. Earlier, there were constant silent wars between the DMK government and the governor and the party boycotted an event at the Raj Bhavan in April this year, alleging delay in several bills passed by the state assembly, including ‘NEET’. The ‘Distribution’ Bill was also included.
Finally, State Government Passes NEET Exemption Bill For the second time in February this year. Later, Governor RN Ravi reportedly sent the anti-NEET bill to the Center for President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent.
However, if President Kovind assent to the anti-NEET bill and the Center passes it, the state government will have the power to conduct state-level entrance exams or consider class 12 marks for medical admissions, while the national level There will be no exam. The only way to get admission in medical colleges. Overall, the Tamil Nadu government, in favor of the people and the students, urged the Center to make all efforts jointly for the next step as part of the struggle for NEET exemption, pushing for the Indian President’s assent for the anti-NEET bill. called upon.
read all Breaking News , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.