Tag Archives: neet

NEET Row: Bengal Assembly passes resolution on scrapping of NEET; Karnataka next?

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On Wednesday, the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution, introduced by the ruling Trinamool Congress, demanding the abolition of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and advocating for the return to state-level entrance exams. This move positions West Bengal as the second state, after Tamil Nadu, to formally call for the scrapping of NEET.

This resolution follows recent incidents of NEET paper leaks across the country. Prior to the motion, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the same change.

With the passage of this motion, the West Bengal Treasury Bench has officially documented its opposition to NEET. Education Minister Bratya Basu reiterated that his party has consistently opposed NEET due to its nationwide scope, arguing that it undermines the federal structure of the country.

Previously, in 2021, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu had passed legislation seeking exemption from NEET, with Chief Minister MK Stalin calling the exam as discriminatory and disadvantageous to rural aspirants aspiring to pursue medical careers. A similar attempt was made by the AIADMK government under Edappadi K Palaniswami, but the bill failed to receive presidential approval in 2017.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has initiated investigations into multiple alleged irregularities and instances of paper leaks in the NEET-UG 2024 exams, lodging six FIRs so far.

Karnataka Next?

 

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, approved a resolution on Monday to abolish the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in the state, proposing a new entrance exam for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students.

During a late-night session, the Cabinet also approved two additional resolutions: one addressing the delimitation of state legislative assemblies and Lok Sabha constituencies, and another opposing the ‘One Nation, One Election’ concept. It will be taken up by the current legislative session next.

This move comes amid increasing concerns about NEET. Last week, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urged the central government to scrap NEET and allow states to conduct their own entrance examinations.

“The irregularities in the NEET exam are serious. It is a question of the future of lakhs of students. The Centre must scrap NEET and allow states to conduct their own entrance tests. Students from across the country can participate in the tests conducted by states,” Shivakumar stated.

He also highlighted the negative impact on Karnataka students, saying, “Injustice is being meted out to the students from Karnataka. Karnataka has built colleges, but it is benefitting students from North India and depriving its own students. We have to fight unitedly against this. The Centre must conduct an inquiry into the NEET exam irregularities.”

 

 

Ordinance Issued to Defer NEET This Year

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In a deja vu, the Union government on Friday issued an ordinance postponing the implementation of NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) for medical and dental courses in institutions under state governments. The NEET will apply in these institutions from next year, 2017 onwards, said the statement.

It means the NEET 2016 will be applicable only to those who are applying for admission to Central government and private management institutions under the management quota. It may be noted that Karnataka and other state governments had asked the Centre to defer the NEET for this year in view of reforming their own system of entrance exam.

As NEET was laready tken by 6.5 lakh students on May 1 and another 8 lakhs are taking it on July 24, there was considerable confusion among the students over the fate of their first exam. Most of them have decidd forego the results in the first and prepare for the second one next month.

The confusion triggered after the Supreme Court said all students should take only one common entrance test, the NEET, for entry to medical colleges, owing to several complaints about corruption in states and in private medical colleges which hold their own exams.