A better show

Amid the hue and cry over NEET exams, the performance of students from Tamilnadu in NEET (medical entrance) has improved this year. Interestingly, 48.57 per cent students who appeared for the exam in the State have qualified. This is almost nine per cent higher than last year. Remember, Tamilnadu has been witnessing protests against NEET exam ever since it was introduced. Several politicians in the State claimed that before NEET, the State government admitted students to undergraduate medical courses on the basis of their marks in class 12 board examinations. The system allowed students from rural and tribal areas to enter medical colleges. Hence, they wanted it to continue.

Meanwhile, the suicide of two women medical aspirants after failing to clear the test, 2019, has let loose a war of words in Tamilnadu. Speaking in support of the unsuccessful NEET candidates, DMKchief M K Stalin urged the Central government to immediately get the presidential approval for the resolution passed by the State Assembly which seeks exemption from NEET for Tamilnadu students. AMMK  leader T T V Dhinakaran took a dig at the Union government over the issue and questioned the inordinate delay in approving the resolution passed in the State Assembly in 2017.

In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, NEET dominated the campaign. The DMK’s manifesto called for an abolition of the test that has, in the last few years, replaced every other entrance method for medical admissions across India. The AIADMK, in alliance with the BJP for the upcoming polls, has taken a slightly softer stand, but has nonetheless promised it’ll work for a temporary exemption from NEET for students in Tamilnadu.