'Karna demand for including Kannada for NEET an after thought'

Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda today termed as "an after thought" Karnataka government's demand for including Kannada as a language for holding NEET for admission to medical colleges and said the Centre was still "open" to the demand.
He said the Union government was still open to including Kannada among languages for holding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for admission for the academic year 2017-18.
"It was only an after thought. So first of all I want to make it amply clear that the government of India took this decision and issued the circular on the advice of Karnataka government. So saying that they were unaware or something or they were not taken into confidence is factuallywrong," Nadda said.

He said, "there is no confusion or communication gap; but anyway now Karnataka is of the opinion that they would like to have examination and the medium of instruction should be Kannada also. The government of India is open to it."
Asserting that the Centre respects the sentiments of the people and believes in cooperative federalism, the Union minister said "although we are late on the issue, but still we will consider and we are open to it."
"But a few stages and steps have to be followed by the Karnataka government and I feel that they will do it accordingly, and the government of India will respond," Nadda added.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 21st convocation of the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) here.

Stating that the Centre had held 'foolproof' consultation on the medium of instruction for NEET exams, Nadda said a circular was issued to all state governments, posing questions and problems which states will face and how they want to address those issues, whether related to language, reservation policy or mode of conducting the examinations.
A video conferencing was also held in thisregard, in which and also in written answers, theKarnataka government had opined that they would haveNEET exam in English, he said.

"When according to their advice, we circulated acircular in which we said about which are all the regionallanguages that are included, Karnataka government has had an after thought... Maybe because of the reasons of the sentimentsof the people or maybe some other reasons."
Taking strong exception to Kannada being left out, Chief
Minister Siddaramaiah had said his government had written a letter,stating that NEET exams should be held in Kannada also, but stillit had not been done.
"Omitting Kannada is a wrong thing, weare writing a protest letter also," he had said.
With Siddaramaiah seeking to put the onus on the Centre and state BJP leaders, Union Minister Ananth Kumar had hit back, saying the state government had written to the Centre suggesting that the examination be held in English.

Kannada Development Authority had called themove to exclude the language a "great injustice" to sevencrore Kannadigas.
The Chief Secretary and CultureMinister had also written to the Centre on the issue.
Karnataka is considered the home for highestnumber of medical colleges in the country.