NEET for Medical Admissions will be Scrapped: DMK mentions in Election Manifesto

"The NEET for medical admissions will be scrapped," DMK chief M K Stalin said while unveiling the salient features of his party's manifesto.

Chennai: The DMK on Tuesday promised to do away with the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions and ushering in quota in the private sector in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha election.

"The NEET for medical admissions will be scrapped," DMK chief M K Stalin said while unveiling the salient features of his party's manifesto.

Opposition to NEET in Tamil Nadu from major political parties and students had taken emotive overtones in the past.

Read Also: Stalin raises the issue of assent for NEET Bills in TN Assembly

Stalin said steps would be taken for implementing reservation in the private sector.

The party also assured steps for waiver of all educational loans taken by students.

Against the background of agitations by state government employees seeking reversion to the old pension scheme in place of the newly-introduced contributory scheme, the DMK chief said: "We will bring back the old pension scheme for both the central and state government employees."

The DMK president said the party would revert to the administered-price mechanism to regulate the prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Another key feature of the manifesto is doing away with the direct cash transfer of subsidy for the LPG and bringing down the prices of cylinders.

The DMK is contesting 20 seats in the state, allotting the remaining 19 to its allies. The state goes to polls in a single phase on April 18.

DMK has been a staunch opposer to NEET. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in October 2018 also the DMK President MK Stalin had asked the Central Government to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admission, as it was affecting the rural students.

He said that though the BJP led union government had announced that the NEET exam could be written in all languages including Tamil, there was a wrong translation in the question paper. He said that in the last NEET exam, more than 24,000 Tamil Nadu students were affected due to a wrong translation in the question paper and that the number of rural students writing the NEET exam had been reduced completely.

Mr Stalin said that due to this governmental failure, some of the students committed suicide.

Read Also: DMK urges Central govt to scrap NEET