Governor rejects NEET bill; Stalin calls all-party meeting for next move

In a major setback to the Tamil Nadu government, Governor RN Ravi has sent back the assembly bill, which had sought exemption from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for the state, contending that it would be against the interests of rural and economically poor students.

According to a Raj Bhavan press release, the Governor has returned the bill along with the report of a high-level state committee on the NEET issue on which the bill was based, to Assembly Speaker M Appavu. The bill was adopted by the Tamil Nadu (TN) state assembly on September 13, 2021, and forwarded to the Governor.

The bill had been formulated based on the recommendations submitted by a high-level committee headed by the former Madras High Court judge AK Rajan. Before passing such a bill, Stalin had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 17, 2021, and made a representation to get an exemption from NEET for the state.

Responding to the Governor’s rejection, Chief Minister MK Stalin tweeted, asking, “On the 53rd death anniversary of Annadurai, I am thinking of the question he raised with a reason, ‘Is it needed for a goat to have a beard and the country to have a governor?”. The Tamil Nadu government has called for an all-party meeting on February 5 to discuss the rejection.

CM Sir, please help me

Coincidentally, as the CM’s car was en route to the Secretariat this morning (February 3), he stopped his car at TTK Road when he spotted a young man holding the placard ‘CM Sir, help me’.

Stalin alighted from his car. N Sathish, who hailed from east Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, is a student who reportedly missed his chance to study medicine because of the NEET exams. Though he had scored good marks in the Class 12 board exams, he was unable to get a medical seat because of NEET.  Hence, Sathish was expressing his solidarity with the CM’s fight against the NEET.

The CM assured him the legal battle against the NEET would continue and that he was fighting to abolish NEET not just in TN but at the national level as well.

Also read: Stalin urges quick assent for Bill to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET

Against the interests of students

Meanwhile, the Raj Bhavan press release stated that after a detailed study of the L.A.Bill No.43 of 2021 for admission to Undergraduate Medical Courses seeking exemption from NEET, and the high-level committee report constituted by the state government in this regard, which is the basis of the bill, and also examining the pre-NEET status of social justice in medical admission, especially for students coming from socially and economically poor background, the governor is of the opinion that the bill is “against the interests of the students especially the rural and economically poor students of the State.”

“Hence, the Hon’ble Governor has returned the Bill to the Hon’ble Speaker, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on February 01, 2022, giving detailed reasons, for its re-consideration by the House,” it said.

The Supreme Court in Christian Medical College, Vellore Association Vs. Union of India (2020) also has comprehensively examined the issue specially from the social justice perspective and upheld NEET as it prevents economic exploitation of poor students and is in furtherance of social justice, it added.

The governor’s decision comes months after CM M K Stalin met him in November and urged him to forward the bill to the President for his assent. Besides, the CM had chaired an all-party meeting last month where the decision was taken that an unified legal battle would be fought against the central qualification exam.

NEET has emotional overtones in TN

NEET has emotional overtones in the state in the backdrop of a string of alleged suicides of medical aspirants, who took their lives after failing to clear the NEET or because they were scared of scoring low marks.

The death of a Dalit girl from Ariyalur district, S Anitha, in 2017 by suicide over failing in NEET prompted outrage all over the state and the call to abolish NEET had picked up steam since then. The previous AIADMK government too had adopted an assembly resolution seeking exemption for TN from NEET.

The abolition of NEET was a poll promise by the DMK in the 2021 assembly elections. Barring BJP, all other parties in TN are opposed to NEET.

Also read: AK Rajan Committee report on NEET: ‘It promotes coaching, NOT learning’

In September 2021, the assembly bill, had said the entrance test is not a fair or equitable method of admission since it favoured the rich and elite sections of society.

Quoting the Justice Rajan high-level committee, the preamble in the bill had then said that the panel, on making a detailed study had concluded that if NEET continued for a few more years, TN’s healthcare system would be very badly affected and there may not be enough doctors for postings in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) or state-run hospitals and that the rural and urban poor may not be able to join the medical courses.

Call to hold urgent sitting of state assembly

Meanwhile, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) MP Anbumani Ramadoss called for an urgent sitting of the state assembly to once again adopt a bill against NEET and send it to the governor.

Ramadoss said the governor returning the bill was “unfortunate”. And said it was “unacceptable that the governor has opined it is against the interests of rural and economically poor students.”

Further, he tweeted that his decision is against social justice. CPI state secretary R Mutharasan also hit out at the governor’s decision, and said it was against the feelings of the people of the state. NEET has been inimical to the interests of TN students ever since it was introduced, he said in a statement.

“To ensure the welfare of the students of Tamil Nadu and social justice, the state government should once again send the bill to the Governor,” he added.