Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday defended the NEET examination, saying the medical examination system was brought in by the Congress-led UPA government and was defended by then ASG (Additional Solicitor General).
"NEET was notified in December 2010. It was led by the then DMK Minister Gandhi Selvan, who served as MoS for Health and Family Welfare as part of the Congress-led UPA II Government. In 2012, the UPA 2.0 introduced NEET (Undergraduate) for medical admissions. And in 2013, the first exam took place," the Finance Minister said while replying to the debate on Budget 2024 in Rajya Sabha.
"The then ASG had defended NEET and said - 'the earlier system of multiple examinations was neither in the national interest nor in the interest of maintaining the standards of medical education, nor did it serve the interest of poor/middle-class students who had to buy forms of several examinations and travel across the country to appear in multiple examinations'," Sitharaman said.
Tamil Nadu has been opposing the NEET examination, arguing that it should be allowed to conduct exams for medical seats in the states. The southern state also claims that the central examination system does not favour the students of Tamil Nadu.
Countering this, the Finance Minister said NEET doesn't disadvantage anyone. "In fact, it expands opportunities. Tamil Nadu students secure 85% of seats with 69% reservation upheld & can also go 15% seats in other states. They benefit from the All India Quota. In 2011, when the DMK rule concluded in Tamil Nadu, it had just 1945 medical seats. Presently, there are 10,425 medical seats, a remarkable surge of 8480 seats over the past 11 years."
Sitharaman suggested that a section of private medical colleges was opposing the NEET even before recent leaks came to light as they were hurt by the new system. "NEET has ensured cost-effective medical education for families. Certainly, it has hurt some vested private interests, particularly those in the medical education field because no longer 'selling' of medical seats is possible. That's why a particular lobby was against NEET, even before the NEET leak issue took place," she added.
Sharing data on the students clearing the exam, the minister said in the year 2022-23, 12,997 Tamil Nadu government school students wrote the NEET exam. Of them, 3982 students passed. "It is noteworthy that the pass percentage has increased from 27% last year to 31%. Before NEET, only students from a few schools from selected regions of Tamil Nadu could get medical seats but now it's across the board."