New Delhi: In a major e-governance development, the National Informatics Centre (NIC), under the IT Ministry, has joins hands with over 35 examinations and counselling bodies including the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to medical (MBBS), dental (BDS), and AYUSH courses in the country.

The government body has also collaborated with the CBSE, AICTE, and UGC in facilitating central and state-level examinations like the UGC/CSIR-NET, JEE among others. E-counselling services offered by the NIC is a one-stop online solution for all examinations, results publications, counselling and admission needs from applications form, fee payment, e-admit card, selection of courses and institutes.

Speaking to IANS about the recent move, the IT Ministry officials informed that the counselling services are provided to nations and state boards like the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB), the Centralised Counselling for M.Tech for admissions into over 3000 academic institutions including IITs, NITs, the Maulana Azad Medical College, the Armed Forces Medical College and Central- and state-funded universities/institutions in departments like engineering, medical, pharmacy, and management to over 89 lakh candidates.

"Automated systems have simplified the selection process facilitating admissions as per merit and candidates preferences... introductions of a single registration for multiple courses have significantly reduced time efforts, expenses and manpower requirements, an official said.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (GOI) has established National Testing Agency (NTA) as an independent autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation for conducting an efficient, transparent and international standard test in order to access the competency of candidates for admission to premier higher education institutions. The National Testing Agency is entrusted to address all such issues using best in every field, from test preparation, to test delivery and to test marking.

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