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.
