M. K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu wrote a letter today to Madam President Smt. Droupadi Murmu, the President of India. The letter is being written with the aim of urging her to approve the NEET Exemption Bill. The letter throws a light on the suicide case of son – father duo in Tamil Nadu due to the NEET exam.
On Saturday, a 19 year old, aspiring NEET student committed suicide at his residence in Chromepet. Reportedly, the reason of suicide was him not being able to clear the exam, even after attempting twice.
As reported by a source , Stalin, while expressing his sorrow said, “I was profoundly saddened to learn of the untimely demise of Jegadeeswaran from Chromepet, an aspirant for the NEET examination. As I contemplated how to offer solace to his grieving parents, fate delivered yet another devastating blow, with his father Selvasekar also succumbing to suicide the following day. The plight of Jegadeeswaran’s family, friends, and relatives is deeply distressing. It is truly heart-wrenching that a talented student who harbored dreams of becoming a doctor has now tragically become another victim in the list of NEET-related suicides.” Further, it was added by him that, “We can definitely remove NEET which is an obstacle to your goals.”
The state of Tamil Nadu is in the middle of a debate regarding this whole “anti- NEET” bill issue. The exam is receiving backlash by the people claiming it to be having a discriminatory impact on those students with economically poor background and is even being termed as “anti-poor”.
The DMK government managed to make some progress in 2021 as it successfully passed a major bill intended to address this issue. The legislation aimed to exempt Tamil Nadu from the Central National Eligibility Test. But in February 2022, despite its passage, the bill was rejected by the Governor of Tamil Nadu, R.N Ravi. In spite of this, before being resubmitted to the Governor, the legislation was renewed and approved. At present, the law has to be approved by President, Smt. Droupadi Murmu.
Recently during an event, Governor R.N Ravi stated that he will be the last person to give clearance to the bill as he does not want the children to feel intellectually disabled.
Meanwhile, Ma Subramanian, Tamil Nadu’s Health Minister stated that the Governor has got nothing to do with the bill and that there is no requirement for his consent.
