Armed with Bill, TN gets ready for NEET war

Armed with Bill, TN gets ready for NEET war

Dravidian parties join hands; Legal experts divided on efficacy of Bill as no other State supports TN’s demand

Published: 14th September 2021 05:42 AM 

By T Muruganandham And KV Navya

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu on Monday started a fresh bout of legal war against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) again. The ruling DMK kept its poll promise of passing a Bill to exempt the State from the exam. However, apprehensions around its ultimate success in getting the Union government’s nod remain the same as was the case five years ago when the previous AIADMK regime passed a similar Bill. Despite being an ally of the AIADMK in the State, the BJP-led Union government did not budge and returned the Bill, then.

This time, however, the new Bill is backed by the report of a special committee, led by Justice AK Rajan, that studied NEET’s impact on students from disadvantaged backgrounds. “The reason for the President to return the Bill then was not because there was a lack of data. It was on the Constitutional propriety of the State trying to get an exemption from a Central law,” said Justice K Chandru, a retired Madras High Court judge. NEET was enabled by a law passed in the Parliament, and at best, the State Assembly can pass a resolution showing its disapproval, he said, adding that there was no support from other States, too.

A few other legal experts have a different opinion. Justice Hari Paranthaman, also a retired Madras HC judge, said there have been earlier instances of such exemptions from the Central law for a single State. “For instance, the Hindu Marriages Act, where only TN was given an exemption.”Much of the course ahead will depend on how the Union government will treat the new Bill that will be sent for a presidential nod. As much as legal, there are also other factors, including political considerations. The BJP-led government also seems determined on having a uniform education policy.

However, the Bill on its part, puts forth its reasons in strong words. Quoting the report of the panel, the Bill said NEET festers inequality, as it favours the rich and more privileged class of society who can afford special coaching, apart from pursuing Class XII. “It virtually barricades the underprivileged social groups from medical and dental education. This is against the very object of the equality clause enshrined in the Constitution, and infringes the right to education of children from underprivileged classes of society,” it said.

The Bill, introduced by Chief Minister MK Stalin, said medical admissions will be based on marks scored in Class 12 board examinations. Barring the BJP, an Opposition ally, all parties in the House supported the Bill, and it was passed by a voice vote. Under this, government school students will have a 7.5 per cent reservation for medical and dental admissions in the State. Incidentally, the passing of the Bill comes a day after Dhanush, a NEET aspirant, committed suicide in Mettur. Although the AIADMK staged a walkout blaming the ruling DMK for the aspirant’s death, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami extended his party’s full support to the Bill during the discussion and the Chief Minister thanked him for the same.

All parties, except BJP, extend support to Bill

When the Bill was introduced by Chief Minister MK Stalin, barring the BJP, an Opposition ally, all parties supported it, and it was passed by a voice vote

‘Infringes right to education...’

The Bill stated, ”It virtually barricades the underprivileged social groups from medical and dental education. This is against the very object of the equality clause enshrined in the Constitution, and it also infringes the right to education of children from these underprivileged classes of society.”

Stalin, EPS engage in verbal battle over NEET

Stalin, EPS engage in verbal battle over NEET

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.09.2021

Holding the previous AIADMK regime responsible for introducing NEET in Tamil Nadu, chief minister M K Stalin on Monday said 15 students, including Dhanush of Salem, had ended their lives apprehensive about the entrance test.

The state government had kept this in mind while introducing the bill to provide admissions based on class 12 board examinations. Later, Leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami told reporters that DMK was responsible for the suicide of the NEET aspirant in Salem.

The assembly saw heated exchanges between Stalin and Palaniswami before the bill was introduced.

EPS pointed out that NEET exemption was DMK’s poll promise and the party had promised to fulfill it soon after assuming charge. “The students could not prepare for the competitive exam with DMK leaders making continuous assertions about NEET exemption,” the former CM said, before walking out in protest along with AIADMK legislators. Certain remarks by EPS on the Salem student’s suicide were expunged by the speaker.

Stalin said many students, including Anitha, had ended their lives during the AIADMK regime. A bill passed unanimously under the previous regime to exempt the state from NEET was rejected too. “The AIADMK government hid the rejection of the bills by the President. The leader of opposition was the CM then. The student, Dhanush, could not pass NEET twice when you (EPS) were the CM,” Stalin said.

The CM said the AIADMK was an ally of the NDA government at the Centre and could have laid down a condition to its ally that it would support the CAA and farm laws only if the state was exempted from NEET. The AIADMK did not have the courage to do it. “Had it been done; the state could have been exempted. But the AIADMK maintained a stony silence when students were coming suicide,” Stalin said.

In the afternoon, when the bill was taken up for consideration and passage, Palaniswami said the party welcomed the legislation. The present bill only additionally mentioned justice A K Rajan committee’s recommendations and the minister should explain whether the state could pass a bill against the Centre’s legislation, EPS said. The Supreme Court already passed judgments against NEET, he added.

TN assembly passes bill to nullify NEET, BJP walks out

TN assembly passes bill to nullify NEET, BJP walks out

It Also Gives 7.5% Quota To Govt School Students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.09.2021

In a near-unanimous motion, the Tamil Nadu assembly on Monday passed a bill for admission to medical courses only on the basis of Class XII marks in board examinations. The bill also provides for 7.5% horizontal reservation in medical courses for students of government schools.

“Admissions to medical education courses are traceable to Entry 25 of List III, Schedule VII of the Constitution. Therefore, the state government is competent to regulate the same. So, I am moving this bill,” chief minister M K Stalin said, evoking loud thumping of desks in the treasury. The bill seeks to circumvent NEET and, instead, have only Class XII marks as criterion for admissions to MBBS, BDS, Indian medicine and homeopathy courses.

While opposition parties like the AIADMK and the PMK, besides DMK allies, supported the bill, the BJP members walked out of the assembly in protest.

A high-level committee, headed by Justice A K Rajan, former judge of the Madras high court, set up by the DMK government in June, reported to the government that NEET had undermined the diverse societal representation in MBBS and higher medical courses, favouring the affluent groups, while thwarting the dream of pursuing medical education by the underprivileged sections.

Constitutional and political tussle

TN’s bid to do away with NEET is as much political as constitutional, reports A Subramani. Political as it would need the Centre’s consent and presidential assent. Constitutional as education, after the 42nd amendment, is on the concurrent list where the Centre and the states have equal say to enact laws. P 5

Allot 1% seats to def personnel’s wards: HC

The Madras high court has said that it expects the TN government to allocate at least 1% medical seats for wards of serving defence personnel from the next academic year and recognise their selfless service to the nation. P 5

Wrong to say NEET improved medical exam quality: CM

The most-affected were students of government schools, those having parental income of less than ₹ 2.5 lakh a year and that of MBCs, SCs and STs.

The committee said the NEET neither seemed to ensure merit nor standard of students being offered MBBS. The Justice Rajan committee received views from 86,342 people both offline and online and submitted its report on July

14. “The committee has recommended that the state government pass an act, like Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006 (Tamil Nadu Act 3 of 2007),” Stalin said.

Following the recommendations, the state set up another committee of secretaries led by chief secretary V Irai Anbu on July 15. The committee of secretaries recommended the same route to nullify NEET.

The CM said it was wrong to say NEET improved the standard of medical examination. TN had one of the highest number of medical and dental institutions even before 2017. The standard of medical and dental professionals from these institutions was high.

The government decided to enact a law to ensure social justice, uphold equality and equal opportunity, protect all vulnerable student communities, and ensure a robust public health care in the state, especially in the rural areas, Stalin said.

In the afternoon, when the Bill was taken up for consideration and passage, BJP floor leader Nainar Nagendran said his party opposed the Bill. He said 57,219 out of 99,610 students, who wrote NEET, cleared the test last year.

Stalin vows to monitor all schemes announced

Stalin vows to monitor all schemes announced

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12.09.2021

Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday said he would monitor and hold periodical reviews to ensure that all the announcements made by various ministers in the assembly are implemented in time.

“We have devised strategies to implement each scheme announced in the assembly. They will be implemented in a phased manner. No scheme will remain as mere announcement. I am personally taking efforts to implement them. I am holding review meetings with the ministers concerned and officials of the department to speed up implementation,” Stalin said after inaugurating the monthly incentive (₹ 1,000) scheme for the priests of 12,959 temples where only one-time pooja is done every day. He inaugurated the scheme at Marundeeswarar temple in Thiruvanmiyur. The scheme was announced in the assembly and it had been launched even before the session ended, said Stalin.

The CM applauded the HR&CE ministry for implementing various schemes and said minister P K Sekar Babu deserved the moniker ‘Seyal’ (action) Babu.

He said the department was lucky to have an active minister like Babu, who was working round the clock.

Listing out various announcements like construction of houses for priests and setting up of colleges under the department, Stalin said the golden era of the department was in the offing.

He said the government had created an additional corpus fund of ₹130 crore, thereby doubling the corpus from ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh for each temple under one-time pooja scheme.

The chief minister said all schemes will be implemented in a phased manner and added that they will not remain as mere announcements

TN to buy 2,213 new diesel buses

TN to buy 2,213 new diesel buses

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.09.2021

Tamil Nadu plans to purchase 2,213 new diesel buses and 500 electric buses within the next two months to replace the older vehicles in the fleet, transport minister Raja Kannappan announced in the assembly on Wednesday.

Replying to the debate on demand for grants for the transport department, Raja Kannappan said, "The new buses will be purchased with interest free loan from German bank KfW (German Development Bank) which will cover 80% of the cost and remaining 20% will be funded by the state."

The government entered into an agreement with KfW to procure 12,000 BS-VI buses and 2000 electric buses in a span of five years from 2021. There are 17,333 buses plying in the state.

Don’t waste time dwelling on past events: Stalin to his MLAs

Intervenes As MLA Recalls ‘Humiliation’ Of Party Over 10yrs

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:05.09.2021

Chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday sought to send a strong message to his legislators to stop recalling past events in the assembly as it amounted to wasting the time of the House.

More than once in recent days, he had also asked his MLAs not to indulge in sycophancy by showering compliments on him. On Saturday, participating in the debate on demand for grants for various departments, DMK (Kumbakonam) MLA G Anbalagan said his party had suffered humiliation in the assembly in the past one decade, with many AIADMK leaders making acerbic remarks against the DMK and its leadership. “A leader made an outrageous statement that there were no rivals for her to see in the assembly. Another leader said Stalin can never win and never become chief minister. Those faces are not to be found in the House. But others have come,” said Anbalagan pointing to Royapuram MLA Idream R Murthy, seated near him. Murthy, who defeated former AIADMK minister D Jayakumar, rose from his seat with folded hands, evoking laughter among the ruling party MLAs.

Stalin intervened at this stage to say the member had been given only 15 minutes by the speaker and hence, he should confine himself to the issues relating to the demand for grants for the department and should not waste time speaking about “unnecessary” things. Leader of the opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami said the DMK MLA should also talk about the vote on the motion of confidence in 2017 (when the DMK legislators created ruckus). Responding to this, the chief minister said, “I have told my MLA to limit himself to relevant issues to avoid wastage of time. If the Leader of the opposition is ready for a discussion (on the trust vote), then the DMK is also ready.” Palaniswami said the DMK MLA was making unnecessary remarks in the House.

Anbalagan went on to say the DMK was not against any religion and the party remained a fortress for spiritual people. It was portrayed as an anti-Hindu party way back in 1967 elections and in 2021, but people reposed confidence in the Dravidian party. Former CM C N Annadurai deputed his PWD minister M Karunanidhi to oversee the arrangements of mahamagam festival in Kumbakonam, he said. “In 11 seats, known for their spiritual significance, including Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai and Mylapore, the DMK won in the last election,” he said.

Later, DMK (Tirupattur) MLA A Nallathambi said rivals (the BJP) took out Vel Yatra to defeat Dravidam and the DMK, but it was Karunanidhi who took out a yatra for tracing the missing diamond spear of Lord Muruga in Tiruchendur.