Tamil Nadu continues to Oppose NEET
Ma Subramanian
Chennai: Clarifying the stand of the Tamil Nadu Government on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which is the centralized medical entrance examination across the country, the State Health Minister Ma Subramanian recently said that the State continues its opposition to the exam.
Talking to media persons, the minister said that he and the state had given a new representation to the Union Health Minister to do away with NEET.
The minister said that during the state government has given replies to the Union Ministry for Home affairs on the clarifications they asked regarding the petition of the state government on NEET exemption.
Ma Subramanian said that he was expecting the Union health ministry to call him and the State Health Secretary to New Delhi soon to communicate on a final decision regarding NEET.
He also said that it was not only Tamil Nadu but states like Uttarkhand were also opposed to NEET and NeXT. The minister said that several students have also raised their objection to NEET, reports IANS.
The minister said that there 6326 MBBS seats in medical colleges of Tamil Nadu including government and private medical colleges. He said that there would be 1768 seats for BDS courses in the state.
It may be noted that there were 6067 MBBS seats and 1380 BDS seats in Tamil Nadu last year. The number of seats under the 7.5 % quota for government school students in the seat is 473 for MBBS and 133 seats for BDS this year.
In Tamil Nadu, there are 36 government medical colleges, one ESI medical college, 21 self-finance medical colleges, and 13 deemed medical colleges in the state.
NEET in Tamil Nadu:
NEET was introduced in India as a centralized test for admitting medical students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. However, since its inception, Tamil Nadu has been protesting against the same as after the test was introduced more than a dozen students of underprivileged social backgrounds committed suicide. These students belonging to remote areas were unable to access the necessary resources for clearing the entrance examination.
Prior to NEET, Tamil Nadu used to hold its own Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to medical colleges in the state for filling the state seats.
Several deliberations and protests staged over the years seeking NEET exemption in the state resulted in the formation of the Anti-NEET bill, which was passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly. The Centre had also sought clarifications from the state on the bill.
However, the bill has not come into effect as the Governor forwarded it seeking President's assent, which has not been granted till date.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the matter of NEET exemption has now reached the Supreme Court with the state of Tamil Nadu filing a lawsuit challenging the validity of the MBBS entrance test.
The Tamil Nadu government has argued that the introduction of NEET is violative of the federal structure, as it takes away the power of the States to admit students to Government Seats in medical colleges.
