NEET will be cancelled if Congress led by PM Rahul Gandhi comes to power: Puducherry CM Narayanasamy
The Congress will cancel NEET if it comes to power and Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said on Sunday. "We will cancel NEET if Congress regime, led by Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi, comes to power at the centre," Narayanasamy was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Nearly 90 per cent candidates appeared in the medical entrance exam NEET held at over 3,800 centres across the country on Sunday amid strict precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) began at 2 PM, but entry to centres started at 11 AM.
NEET is a gateway for admissions into undergraduate medical and dental courses.
From this year the admissions to MBBS course in the 13 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry will also be made through NEET following the amendment in National Medical Commission Act, 2019 passed by Parliament last year.
The exam has been postponed twice due to the pandemic and the government decided to go ahead with it, despite opposition by a section, to mitigate any further academic loss.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has set in place strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) in view of the pandemic, including measures like reducing the number of candidates per room from the earlier 24 to 12.
The NTA had also increased the number of centres from 2,546 in 2019 to 3,862 this year to ensure crowd management and staggered entry and exit protocols.
Unlike the engineering entrance (JEE), NEET-UG, the medical admission test, is a pen and paper exam and held once a year.
Accordingly, the NTA has changed centres for a few candidates this week in compliance with social distancing norms and COVID restrictions.
The NEET-UG was originally scheduled for May 3, but was pushed to July 26 and then scheduled for September 13.
(With inputs from agencies)
