Tamil Nadu-NEET controversy: Making federalism a 'healthy' affair

A meeting of four non-BJP chief ministers — Tamil Nadu’s M K Stalin, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra’s Uddhav Thackeray, and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan — caught the public eye during the third week of September. The topic of the meeting was “federal rights”, with the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admission being its pivot.
 
Stalin is seeking cooperation from non-BJP states and possibly the state may resort to a “Jallikattu-like protests”, according to media reports. At least three students have allegedly committed suicide in rural Tamil Nadu due to the fear of not clearing NEET 2021. This led the Stalin government to come up with a Bill giving permanent exemption for Tamil Nadu students from appearing in NEET. The Bill, if passed, will provide for admission on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination (Plus Two) through normalisation methods. Interestingly, except for the BJP, this Bill even got support from rival the AIADMK. Though the AIADMK government had passed similar Bills in 2017, they did not get the president’s nod.
 
Even now, experts indicate the Bill is unlikely to stand up legally. “It conflicts not only with Section 10-D of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, but also the Supreme Court decision in Sankalp Charitable Trust v Union of India. While Entry 26 on List III of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution gives concurrent powers to the states to enact a law to regulate the medical profession, where the “field is already occupied” by central legislation mentioned above, the law in question is open to challenge and can be struck down,” said Abhishek Malhotra, managing partner, TMT Law Practice.
 
However, parties in Tamil Nadu may well be making a political point in standing for the poor. The issue got public attention in 2017, when Anitha, a 17-year-old Dalit girl who had moved the Supreme Court against NEET, allegedly committed suicide after her plea was rejected. Anitha’s dream of being a doctor was shattered after she failed in NEET exams even after scoring 98 per cent (1,176 out of 1,200 marks). This had led to widespread protests in the state.
 
Much before NEET was introduced, the state had abolished the entrance exams to medical colleges and admission came to be based on Class 12 state board marks, giving some quarter to students from rural parts.

“The Bill should be cleared because thousands of students in government schools and rural parts are denied medical education because they are not given an equal opportunity to compete. The Stalin government is making three points here — politically standing for the poor, stating that education is for all, and highlighting federal rights,” said Ramu Manivannan, a veteran political commentator.
 
On the other hand, the BJP, which is opposing the Bill, is, however, backing its position with numbers. The party’s senior leader and spokesperson, Narayanan Thirupathy, said before NEET, 70-80 per cent of students who got medical admission were from areas like Chennai and Namakkal. Now admission is equally spread across the state. “Due to the 7.5 per cent reservation for students in government schools, last year alone 405 students got admission to medical courses from such schools as compared to only 150 between 2005 and 2015,” he told Business Standard.
 
However, according to a report by the Justice A K Rajan committee, the percentage of rural students getting medical admission came down from 65.17 per cent in 2016-17 in the pre-NEET year to 49.91 per cent in 2020-21. Similarly, the number of Tamil-medium students came down from 14.88 per cent in 2016-17 to 1.99 per cent in 2020-21. A similar drop was seen in the number of state board students too as compared to a rise in the number of students from schools under the Central Board of Secondary Education.
 
“While talking about Namakkal or Chennai schools, why are people not talking about NEET-coaching classes in Kochi, Coimbatore, Trichy, and Chennai? How many rural students can afford such costly classes despite being competent? Hence this is a movement for the poor and other states should also join hands with Tamil Nadu,” Manivannan said.