The Tamil Nadu government’s anti-NEET Bill suffered a setback Friday after President Droupadi Murmu rejected the bill, which sought exemption for the state from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and proposed using Class XII marks for admissions instead.
Informing the state Assembly about the Centre’s decision, Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed disappointment over the move and said, “The rejection is a dark chapter in federalism.” He added that the state would nevertheless continue its struggle to abolish the NEET, and announced that a meeting of the legislature party leaders has been convened on April 9 in this connection.
The bill, which proposed to allow admissions to medical courses solely based on Class XII marks, was passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2021 and re-adopted the following year after initial objections from Governor R N Ravi.
In June last year, unanimously passing a resolution against the NEET system, the Tamil Nadu Assembly urged the central government to scrap the test on a national level and approve the state’s NEET exemption Bill.
The chief minister also accused the Centre of disregarding the will of the people of Tamil Nadu and the Assembly bill, too.
“Despite the Tamil Nadu government furnishing all necessary clarifications through various ministries, the Union government has now rejected the exemption from NEET,” Stalin said, as quoted by PTI.
“Due to the implementation of NEET, the dreams of the poor and rural students of becoming a doctor have been out of reach. This will affect the medical services in rural and backward areas of the state in the future,” the CM said in his address to the House.
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He said the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act, 2021 was unanimously passed in the Legislative Assembly on September 13, 2021. The Governor sent it back for reconsideration. Following this, a resolution to reintroduce the Bill in the Assembly was passed unanimously, he explained.
Leader of the Opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami accused the chief minister of doing politics on abolishing the national level screening test. “The DMK came to power in 2021 promising to cancel NEET. Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, then said he knew the secret of abrogating NEET. But nothing was done thus far. Now the chief minister has announced an all-party meeting on NEET,” he said.
“How long will the DMK deceive the people?” the former CM asked while speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, after staging a walkout over another issue.
NEET has emotional undertones in Tamil Nadu as many aspirants, either having failed to crack the entrance test or apprehensive over clearing it, have died by suicide over the past years. They include S Anita from Ariyalur district, whose death in 2017 sparked an outrage in the state.
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All political parties in the state barring the BJP support ‘abolition’ of NEET.
(With inputs from PTI)