Tamil Nadu government will bring a bill in the Legislative Assembly seeking a permanent exemption to the state from NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) today.
Taking to Twitter Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday said that National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is a major issue of the country and his government will bring a bill seeking an exemption to the state.
“Another death at the altar of NEET…Tomorrow we will bring a permanent exemption bill for NEET. Let us take NEET as an issue of the Indian subcontinent,” Stalin said in a Twitter post in Tamil.
The remarks by Stalin came after a 19-year-old medical aspirant was found dead at his home in Salem hours before he was to appear for the NEET exam a third time.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET (UG), formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), is an all India pre-medical entrance test for students who wish to pursue undergraduate medical (MBBS), dental (BDS), and AYUSH (BAMS, BUMS, BHMS, etc.) courses in government and private institutions in India and also, for those intending to pursue primary medical qualification overseas.
The NEET 2021 examination was delayed due to the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Expressing shock and grief, Stalin said that the aspirant died by suicide as he was dejected that he could not clear the exam despite appearing twice earlier and due to the adverse effects caused by NEET to poor students of urban and rural regions.
The death led to a blame game with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) holding the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime responsible and the state government targeting the Centre.
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Earlier, the Madras High court had dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Tamil Nadu state general secretary of the BJP, K. Nagarajan, that constituting a committee to study the impact of NEET was against the Supreme Court directive. The first bench of the Madras HC comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said that ‘constituting a committee was well within the purview of the elected government and it does not amount to defiance’.
(With agency inputs)
