TMC passes resolution against NEET in Assembly
Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday passed a resolution in the state legislative Assembly under Article 169 of the Constitution, condemning the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and demanding the reinstatement of the previous Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), Medical by the state itself.
State Parliamentary Affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhayay alleged that the Centre, by taking away the responsibility of conducting the exam from the hands of the state, is trying to destroy the federal structure of the country. “Education is in the concurrent list but the central government, like everything, is trying to control education also. The corruption associated with NEET is the biggest in the country after Independence,” he said. The BJP government formed the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 2017 to mainly conduct three top undergraduate admissions entrance exams- JEE-Main for engineering, NEET-UG for medical and CUET-UG for admissions to several other undergraduate courses. Before the establishment of NTA, the state boards used to conduct such examinations through their own mechanism.
State Education minister Bratya Basu questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the alleged controversies regarding paper leak and grace marks by NTA in NEET-UG and said: “This year there are 67 toppers who scored 720 out of 720, 300 students who got more than 700, 27000 students who got more than 650 and 9000 students who got more than 590. This is unthinkable. The harm that demonetisation did on the economy of the country, NEET did the same in the field of education.”
He advocated for conducting the JEE medical by the state as it was before 2016-17. The motion that was passed through voice vote in the assembly read, “This House, while strongly condemning the failure of National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct undergraduate and postgraduate examinations fairly and freely, urges the Government of West Bengal to conduct the JEE for ensuring a robust public healthcare system across the state, particularly in far-fledged rural areas, in public interest.”
Chief Whip of the Opposition Shankar Ghosh, however, said that the state government doesn’t have the moral right to question NEET after the SSC scam. The resolution was moved by TMC legislators Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Shashi Panja, Chandrima Bhattacharya, chief whip Nirmal Ghosh and senior MLA Ashok Kumar Deb.
