The Tamil Nadu government on Monday submitted a draft of the Ordinance requesting that state students be exempted from taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for a year in order to secure admission to government colleges, reported IANS. Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan handed over the draft to the Joint Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, RK Mitra.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the Centre was ready to exempt Tamil Nadu from the Neet for one year if the state government passed an Ordinance. She emphasised that the Ordinance must specify that the exemption was sought to help rural students to get admission in government medical colleges.

“As for private colleges and deemed universities, Tamil Nadu is already admitting students as per Neet,” she said. “The problem comes only in terms of government college admissions and also in terms of seats surrendered by private colleges to government colleges. Rural students face difficulty in getting admissions. That is our understanding based on the interaction with the state.” Around 4,000 seats are available in government medical colleges in the state.

The Neet controversy

Currently, medical college admissions across India are done on the basis of Neet scores. However, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Tamil Nadu government has been opposing the examination. They have been asking for reservation to protect the interests of students from Tamil Nadu.

The state first resisted the introduction of Neet initially because it said the Central Board of Secondary Education-based exam would harm the admission prospects of students from the state board. Then, after the results of this year’s exam were declared on June 23, the state reserved 85% seats for these students and ordered a separate merit list. On July 14, the Madras High Court had struck this order down.

The central board’s students, who had challenged this in court, had argued that it is “discriminating [against] students solely on the basis of their school board”.

On July 22, Tamil Nadu Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had said that the test puts social justice in danger. Its Working President MK Stalin had said that Neet has ruined medical aspirants’ dreams.