Editor,
By now we are aware of what the NEET is all about. The UPA-2 government, wanting to do away with the huge capitation fees to get admission for deserving students into medical colleges, introduced the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET). But it took just a year for NEET to show its true colours and for the Supreme Court to immediately quash
It’s eligibility and for states to resort to old methods of selection by the respective Health Departments of state governments based on the marks scored in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and English (PCBE). The aspirants scoring higher marks were allowed to opt for the colleges of their choice. Doctors serving in different health institutions in Meghalaya today were selected as per the merit list in their Class 12 exams.
Unfortunately, when the SC quashed the NEET several coaching centres across India which were making money, suffered losses in crores of rupees. The NEET lobby approached the SC once again in 2016 and surprisingly won the case! From 2019 onwards our first ten who had to be selected by NEET never qualified despite the State reservation quota. Few of the poor but meritorious students were forced to take up Veterinary Science. The rich proceeded to Guwahati to be spoon-fed by coaching classes and paid a whopping Rs 1,20,000.
In 2021 few cleared NEET by scraping narrowly and those who could not, tried again. So an additional 1,20,000 rupees was invested by families. Can anyone explain how after putting in so much hard work from KG to Class 12 and scoring 98% in Physics 94% in Chemistry and 95% in Biology is yet not selected by NEET. With all incidences of impersonations such as the case in Assam in 2020 going silent and 4 impersonators in Maharashtra 2021( now hushed up), that our doctor aspirants need to go through this torturous task of passing the NEET exam is simply unacceptable and ridiculous. On scrutinising the 2020 & 2021 Physics questions in spite of four wrong answers one NEET examinee scored 720/720 with 240 full marks in PCB. The boy went on to testify on YouTube about his coaching centre. The video went viral and had to be deleted in few days.
In the 2020 NEET, 13 girls from poor families in Tamil Nadu on seeing no hope of qualifying as they had no money to attend coaching class chose to die of suicide. Enraged by this the then Tamil Nadu government vowed never to let NEET interfere again. 300 NEET aspirants who got only 30% in the 2020 exams were given seats in the many colleges in Tamil Nadu.
In September 2021 the Tamil Nadu CM, MK Stalin pushed the Bill for NEET exemption in the Assembly but the Governor returned it to the Speaker on grounds that the Bill would affect the rural poor! All Tamil Nadu MPs staged a walk out of Parliament to protest the governor’s action and comments.
The Tamil Nadu assembly has decided to convene a special session of the House seeking exemption of the NEET and the Governor was requested to take it to the President Ram Nath Kovind for his assent.
In light of the above, I request the teachers of Physics (MBOSE) to look at the multiple choice question (MCQs) to discover how impossible it is to qualify for NEET. From Jaintia Hills those who failed to qualify are now in coaching centres in Guwahati and some in Shillong with fees ranging from Rs 50,000. I call upon the Education Minister of our State to follow in the footsteps of Tamil Nadu so that our students would be free of NEET. A retired Judge of Tamil Nadu AK Rajan has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on grounds of education being in the concurrent list and the Centre cannot take arbitrary decisions without consulting the states. Think of our poor but meritorious students who do not have lakhs to pay for coaching. Time is not far off when life becomes the stuff money can buy and only the rich can live while the poor and marginalised die.
Yours etc.,
W Passah,
Via email
Hollow arguments from CEM, KHADC
Editor,
The news that the KHADC has yet again rejected the idea of the railhead coming up to Byrnihat spread like wildfire. Ri Bhoi is considered the gateway to the Khasi and Jaintia hills. The irony about the KHADC is that the Executive Committee is led by an alliance partner of the MDA Government, namely the UDP. More significantly the UDP is also part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). Now perhaps the CEM should understand that his party being part of the NEDA cannot feign ignorance that infrastructure development has been the mantra of the BJP and that connecting the country by railways is one part of this venture. To say that the railhead would lead to influx is a vacuous argument. Has the KHADC done a cost-benefit analysis by an independent agency? Is his argument against railways based on proper research? If the Railways are a so-called threat then why have airports and roadways? In the regressive worldview of the UDP-led EC it appears that they want us to go back to the stone age while the rest of Meghalaya and India prosper.
Is the KHADC not supposed to think seriously and engage in issues of unemployment and lack of development? Isn’t the KHADC supposed to suggest solutions for all this? If not then what is the KHADC really doing? If it does not understand its mandate and address these burning public issues then it had better stop playing regional politics and the politics of propaganda.
Yours etc..
Dominic Stadlin Wankhar
Via email