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Stalin urges Prez to give assent on anti-NEET bill
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Friday met President Droupadi Murmu and handed over a letter urging her to give assent to the Bill that exempts the state from the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET)
Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Friday met President Droupadi Murmu and handed over a letter urging her to give assent to the controversial Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill that exempts the state from the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET). The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has argued that the central test is opposed to the ideas of social justice and disadvantages students from rural backgrounds, particularly in southern states like Tamil Nadu.
Stalin met the President, who was in Chennai to attend the convocation event at Indian Maritime University in Chennai.
The bill was first passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly in September 2021, but was returned by Governor RN Ravi. It was reintroduced and passed by the assembly in February 2022, and sent to the Governor for presidential assent. The Governor then forwarded the bill to the Union home ministry.
During an event to felicitate Tamil Nadu’s NEET rank-holders in August this year, Ravi told a parent of one of the rank-holders that he would “never, ever” clear the state government’s Bill.
“I will be the last man to give clearance [to the NEET exemption Bill], never ever! I do not want my children to feel intellectually disabled,” Ravi told Ammassiyappan Ramaswamy, the father of a NEET rank-holder, who urged the Governor to clear the Bill.
In his letter, Stalin said that the bill has been pending for over a year and all the clarifications sought by the ministry of home affairs have been provided. “Since there had been no progress after our replies, in my letter dated August 14, 2023, I had highlighted the various adverse impacts due to this delay like the lost opportunities for the underprivileged students and many student suicides and had urged you to grant assent without any further delay,” he said.
The chief minister added that the state had opted for the “MBBS selection process” through Class 12 marks. “This process has served our state’s interests well in the past but had to be discontinued due to the Union Government’s introduction of NEET and subsequent changes in Union legislations,” he said.
Stalin said that the “inordinate delay” in granting assent has effectively stalled the intent of the broad “legislative, political and social consensus in Tamil Nadu”. “I, therefore, solicit your kind and immediate intervention in this sensitive issue and urge you to accord assent to the above Bill at the earliest,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
