NEET put off for one year

The single-entrance test, National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), for students wanting to study medicine may be deferred for a year.

In an all-party meeting that was held under the chairmanship of finance minister Arun Jaitley late on Monday, in which the members cutting across party lines flagged concerns over the holding it this year, the government said it is now considering to amend the existing Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act to provide it for next year.

“The government will soon take a legal opinion exploring all options for deferring NEET to another year,” reliable sources claimed, adding that in the meeting on Monday, the “viewpoints of all the members were taken. Even as they all favoured NEET, they asked for deferring it to another year, especially for the state government medical seats.”

Among the many options that the government is likely to explore over the coming days, sources said there was a likelihood of bringing in an amendment in the existing act to defer it for another year. Other than Union health minister J.P. Nadda, the meeting was attended by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra, Anupriya Patel from Apna Dal, Dilip Tirki of BJD, Ratna Dey Nag of AITC and senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi, among others. Mr Nadda also held deliberations with state health ministers during which some states (specially in south) sought more time to implement it. Health ministers and representatives of 18 states and Union Territories attended the meeting.

The Union health minister said although most states are in favour of NEET “in principle”, some have talked about logistical issues that are “impeding” its implementation. “Most states are in favour of NEET in principle. However, some states have expressed that there are some logistics issues that are impeding its implementation, and therefore they have desired for some more time. We will need more discussions with the state governments,” he said.

He said his Ministry will apprise the Supreme Court of the state governments’ apprehensions on NEET only after arriving at a conclusion. The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that students would have to appear in NEET to seek admission to medical or dental colleges in the country, implying that all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET.