Tamil Nadu Demands Center’s Removal Over NEET Irregularities: The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to medical courses is said to have had irregularities.
The Tamil Nadu government criticized the Center on Thursday, calling the awarding of grace marks “unacceptable” and amounting to fraud. According to State Health Minister Ma Subramanian, the DMK’s long-standing demand to do away with the screening test has been strengthened by the nation’s mounting demonstrations and resentment against NEET.
“The anomalies and misunderstanding, especially with regard to the grace mark distribution, are the responsibility of the National Testing Agency (NTA). What was the rationale behind this choice, and were the NEET applicants informed of it?
Subramanian enquired. He continued by saying that no candidates from Tamil Nadu received grace marks and that these anomalies had upset the minds of the 23 lakh applicants who took the test.
The Center notified the Supreme Court earlier in the day that the decision to cancel the grace marks granted to 1,563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates for admission to the MBBS and BDS programs had been made.
Now, on June 23, these applicants can choose to retake the exam. Subramanian reaffirmed the demand to do away with NEET, pointing out that both Chief Minister M K Stalin and the president of the DMK had been in favor of doing away with the exam. He implored the union government to “step forward and abolish NEET at least now.”
In addition, Subramanian charged that former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had allowed NEET to exist in Tamil Nadu in defiance of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and leader of his party.
He said that NEET has prevented many students, especially those from rural and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, from pursuing medical education, and he demanded justice for the aspirants.