Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday lashed out at the Centre for ignoring the views of the State government on conducting the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses.
“We are surprised and distressed by this unilateral decision of the Government of India which has been taken without taking to account our protest and despite the stay against the Common Entrance Test obtained in the Madras High Court”, the CM said in her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Reiterating her demand to exempt TN from the NEET, Jayalalithaa urged the PM to allow the State to continue with its existing system. She said the Centre had gone ahead with the decision to implement the CET by issuing a notice to make the NEET-PG mandatory for entry to MD/MS/PG diploma courses in all medical colleges. The CM referred to her letter to the PM dated July 30, wherein she had explained reasons for opposing the CET. “Despite TN’s protest, the Centre has notified the National Board of Examination for conducting the NEET for PG courses and has gone ahead issuing a public notice for admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma Courses for the 2013 session,” she said.
The CM explained that TN had already abolished the entrance exam for professional courses a few years ago, after detailed examination by an expert committee. The committee had found that such CETs put rural students from poor socio- economic backgrounds at a disadvantage due to lack of geographical and financial access to requisite training institutions and materials.
The CM further said the TN government had reserved 50 per cent of its medical PG seats for doctors who have completed three years of rural service with special weightage for those working in hilly and tribal areas. The government had also obtained and enforced bonds from those completing PG education in government medical colleges to serve the State for a minimum period, which had helped to meet the need for specialist medical manpower. “It will be legally difficult to implement these policy initiatives if a CET is introduced as we would have to fall in line with regulations of the national test, which may not have such enabling provisions,” the CM said.
TN had already represented to the Union Minister of Health that CET would interfere with the rights of the State and would create problems in implementing the reservation policy followed in Tamil Nadu.
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