Kanimozhi Karunanidhi meets Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, seeks support to scrap NEET

BHUBANESWAR: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi met chief minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence here on Wednesday seeking support to press the Centre to scrap NEET for undergraduate medical admission.
During the meeting, Kanimozhi handed over a letter from Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin to Naveen and explained the problems faced by students from rural areas and from economically weaker sections in clearing the national-level pre-medical admission test, a CMO statement said.
Naveen, who had earlier asked the Centre to re-evaluate the exam pattern of NEET and other all-India entrance exams, reiterated the need to make the exams more inclusive, his office said.
In February, Naveen had asked NITI Aayog to re-evaluate the national level examinations such as UPSC exams, NEET and JEE so that these focus on equality and attract merit. Naveen had said the current exam patterns are heavily dependent on highly paid coaching classes. “The ongoing patterns would eliminate merit in the long run and deny justice to lakhs of students who live in rural areas with no access to coaching classes,” the Odisha CM had said then.
While Kanimozhi, who is deputy leader of DMK parliamentary party, met Naveen, another delegation from Tamil Nadu met Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) working president and Telangana municipal administration minister K T Rama Rao in Hyderabad on the same issue.
The Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has been opposing NEET saying the same had put students from rural and economically weaker sections at a disadvantage. While the Tamil Nadu government last month passed a Bill seeking to exempt the state from NEET, making Class 12 board exam results as basis for joining medical courses, Stalin has written to CMs of 11 non-BJP ruled states highlighting how NEET was against the spirit of federalism. Tamil Nadu has also constituted a committee led by a retired judge of Madras high court to study the impact of NEET on the marginalised sections of society.
To ensure rural students are not at a disadvantage, Odisha has decided to reserve 15% seats in medical and engineering colleges for government school students.
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