Tamil Nadu govt to bring legislation against NEET in Budget session

Tamil Nadu government will bring a legislation against National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly.

Chief Minister M K Stalin said the government was studying the legal aspects of the recommendations made by Justice A K Rajan in his report on the impact of NEET on students from economically weaker sections of the state.

In response to DMK MLA and his son Udhayanidhi’s maiden speech in the Assembly, Stalin said political parties in Tamil Nadu should be on the “same page” to oppose NEET and ensure that the exam is dispensed of within the state.

He recalled that the government appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Justice (retired) A K Rajan to study the impact of NEET among students from economically weaker sections of the society. The committee received 87,000 representations, the majority of which were against the conduct of NEET. The majority of them batted for reverting to admitting students to medical colleges on the basis of the marks they scored in their plus-two examination.

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The DMK, which opposed the exam tooth and nail, had promised in its election manifesto that it would bring legislation in the Assembly against the NEET exam.

“The report submitted by Justice A K Rajan is being examined legally and a draft legislation will be brought in the ongoing Budget session,” Stalin said. This is the second time that the Tamil Nadu Assembly will pass a Bill seeking exemption from NEET – two legislations passed by the AIADMK government in 2017 were rejected by the Centre.

NEET is an emotive issue in Tamil Nadu with 13 students ending their lives by suicide due to fear of facing the exam or having failed the test. The government is expected to use the data collected by the Justice Rajan committee to drive home its point that NEET is discriminatory against students from rural areas who are forced to compete with those from urban areas who have better access to education infrastructure.

The committee received representations from students, parents, academicians, doctors, and others on the impact of NEET among students from rural areas and those belonging to financially weaker sections of the society.

In his report, Justice Rajan is understood to have recommended the continuation of the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation for government school students in medical admissions irrespective of NEET. The committee is believed to have noted that the reservation has ensured that a particular number of students from government schools will get into medical colleges.