Supreme Court orders single entrance test for medical courses

April 28, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 28: The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for holding of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, in two phases for the academic year 2016-17 in which around 6.5 lakh candidates are likely to appear.med1

The apex court approved the schedule put before it by the Centre, CBSE and the Medical Medical Council of India (MCI) for treating All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) fixed for May 1 as NEET-1 and those who have not applied for AIPMT will be given opportunity to appear in NEET-II on July 24 and the combined result would be declared on August 17 so that the admission process can be completed by September 30.

The order would imply that all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under the NEET and those examinations which have already taken place or slated to be conducted separately stands scrapped.

The order, ending all uncertainity, was pronounced after rejecting the opposition for holding NEET by states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Association of Karnataka Medical Colleges besides minority institutions like CMC Vellore which had contended that NEET cannot be imposed on them.

The apex court order also revives the Government's Decemeber 21, 2010 notification for holding single common entrance test through NEET with a clarification that any challenge on the issue would directly come before it and no High Court can interfere in it.

The court was of the view that since it has recalled its April 11 order, there was no hindrance in holding the single entrance test.

"In view of the submissions made on behalf of the respondents (Centre, CBSE, MCI), we record that NEET shall be held as stated by the respondents. We further clarify that notwithstanding any order passed by any Court earlier with regard to not holding NEET, this order shall operate. Therefore, no further order is required to be passed at this stage," a bench comprising Justices A R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and A K Goel said.

While rejecting the contention that it would not be proper to hold NEET in view of the July 18, 2013 judgement which had scrapped the NEET, the bench said, "We do not agree with the first submission for the reason that the said judgement has already been recalled on April 11, 2016 and therefore, the notifications dated December 21, 2010 are in operation as on today."

"It may however be clarified that by this order hearing of the petitions which are pending before this Court will not be affected," the bench said.

Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand and senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the Centre and MCI respectively submitted that 6,67,637 candidates are appearing fot the All India Pre-medical/Pre-dental Entrance Test, scheduled for May 1 from 1,040 centres in 52 cities, including abroad.

They submitted that by turning the May 1 entrance exam as NEET-1 would protect the interests of students who have already left their homes for the exams and have fully prepared for it.

Tamil Nadu, through senior advocate L Nageshwar Rao, strongly objected to NEET and said there is no culture of entrance exams in the state since 2007 in view of a prevailing legislation and the marks secured in class XII is considered as qualifying marks to make a level-playing field for the rural students.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal protested passing of the order on behalf of the Association of Karnataka Medical Colleges saying that there should not by any hurry and all stakeholders should be given a detailed hearing.

Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for CMC, Vellore said that the entrance exam by the minority institution has been for years and NEET should not come in its way.

The court also rejected the contention of senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan and P P Rao that April 11 order has not revived the NEET and it will not apply to all states which can hold separate entrance tests.

During the hearing, the bench observed that it was running "against the time".
The petition filed by NGO Sankalp Charitable Trust was listed for hearing today after it was mentioned late yesterday.

On April 11, the apex court had recalled its controversial judgement scrapping single common entrance test for admission to MBBS, BDS and PG courses in all medical colleges, delivered by then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on the day of his retirement.

In its petition, the NGO said that the Centre, MCI and CBSE were dilly-dallying in implementing the court's order on implementing the National Eligibility Entrance Test.
It further said that in view of April 11 judgement decks were cleared for holding of Common Entrance Examination and there is no impediment in having the test for admission to Medical Colleges for current academic year 2016-17.

The petitioner claimed that according to a research conducted by the NGO it was found that as many as 90 entrance examinations are being held by private and government authorities separately which resulted in shelling out lakhs of rupees in taking the examination.

"It has also been widely noticed that the examinations are not conducted in a free and fair manner and admissions are granted to chosen few," the plea said.

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ramana rao g v
 - 
Thursday, 28 Apr 2016

The process has almost completed in several states. The decision to conduct the exam NEET is to be considered next year ie for 2017 admissions onwards.

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News Network
July 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 15: With the state capital along with a few districts under lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the measure was important to break the chain and people seem to have understood its importance.

Appealing for cooperation from the people, he asked them not to make it inevitable for police to use force in implementing the lockdown. "Traffic movement is less, there is a lockdown atmosphere everywhere, I feel that people have understood the importance... cooperation is required. I appeal to the people, if this lockdown has to be effective it has to be voluntary, only then we can control the rapid spread of coronavirus," Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said this lockdown is important, last time the infection was not up to this level. "This time areas that have a high number of infections- about five districts and Bengaluru city are going for lockdown. People have understood that this lockdown is to break the chain," he said. "Please don't make it inevitable for police to use force," he added.

Bengaluru urban and rural areas are under "complete lockdown" since last night at 8 pm and it will be effective till 5 am on July 22.

Following Bengaluru urban and rural, administrations in several districts like Dharwad, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi (only in Urban areas), Bidar, Raichur (in Raichur city and Sindhanur) and Yadgir too have announced lockdown.

Noting that Police have taken all necessary strict measures to enforce lockdown in Bengaluru urban and rural districts by restricting the movement of vehicles and people, Bommai said barricades have been erected at various places and flyovers have been shut. People have been allowed to purchase vegetables and groceries till 12 noon, he said.

The government has warned of action in case of any violation of the lockdown rules. As of July 14 evening, cumulatively 44,077 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 842 deaths and 17,390 discharges. Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 20,969 infections.

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News Network
May 6,2020

Dubai, May 6: The Indian nationals cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will only be allowed to fly back home in one of India's biggest ever repatriation exercises, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has said ahead of the first set of flights on Thursday.

On Monday, the Indian government announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7. Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown, India's Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.

The first two special flights that will operate from Thursday to evacuate Indians stranded in the UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic will begin with applicants from Kerala, who formed the majority of the expatriates who have registered to be repatriated from here, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor has said.

"All departing passengers will have to undergo medical screening and IGM/IGG test at the departure airport and only those cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the plane,” the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Tuesday.

According to the embassy, all passengers will be required to sign an undertaking to undergo compulsory quarantine at the destination of arrival and bear the cost of the same.

“Each passenger, at the time of boarding would be handed over a safety kit containing 2 three-layered face masks, 2 pairs of gloves and pouches/small bottles of hand sanitizers. While on board the flight, the health protocol of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India will be strictly followed,” said the embassy.

The passenger lists for the two flights on May 7 have been finalised by the Embassy / Consulate and sent to Air India Express for issue of tickets.

The Embassy / Consulate will continue conveying the details of further special flights as and when they are announced by the Government of India, over the next few days.

Less than 2,000 Indians wishing to return home from the UAE will be flown to six Indian states in the first week of India’s biggest ever repatriation exercise named Vande Bharat Mission—sans social distancing and COVID-19 tests, the Gulf News reported.

Only those cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the plane.

The short-listed applicants, who were contacted by the Indian missions on Tuesday to purchase tickets for the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday, told the Gulf News that the tickets are priced around Dh 725 to Dh 750 (over Rs 15,000).

Sharjah resident Rasheed Thayyil said his 70-year-old mother Nepheeza Thottungal, who came on a visit to the UAE in February, received an email from the Indian Consulate in Dubai which quoted an airfare of around Dh725 (approx Rs 15,000), the report said.

Another applicant from Abu Dhabi Ambily Babu said she purchased a ticket at Dh 750 from Air India Express for her Abu Dhabi-Kochi flight scheduled to fly on Thursday evening, it said.

Air India Express which is set to operate the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday will operate its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a seating capacity of 186 economy class seats, the report added.

With nine seats reserved for isolation, only 177 passengers would be flown, it said.

The Indian expatriate community of approximately 3.42 million is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country's population, according to information available on the Indian Embassy website.

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Ram Puniyani
February 29,2020

Like most of the political phenomenon, even the practice of Nationalism is not a static one. It changes with the changing political equations of the political forces and assumes the expressions which are very diverse. As such the phenomenon of Nationalism has a long journey and various state policies in particular have used it for purposes which relate more to the power of the state ‘vis a vis’ its people, power of the state ‘vis a vis’ the neighboring countries among others.

In India there has been a certain change in the practices of the state which have transformed the meaning of Nationalism during last few years. Particularly with BJP, the Hindu Nationalist outfit gaining simple majority, it has unfolded the policies where one can discern the drastic change in the meaning and application of Nationalism in regard to its citizens, particularly those belonging to minority community, with regard to those who are liberal, and with those who stand with the concept of Human rights.

Our former Prime Minister of Dr. Manmohan Singh hit the nail on the head when he said that “Nationalism and the "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" slogan are being misused to construct a "militant and purely emotional" idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens. Former Prime Minister recently stated this in an apparent attack on the BJP.” The occasion was the release of a book, ‘Who is Bharat Mata’, edited by Purushottam Agarwal and Radhakrishna. This is a compilation of significant extracts from writings of Nehru, and important assessments of and contributions of Nehru by prominent personalities.

Dr. Singh went on to add "With an inimitable style…Nehru laid the foundation of the universities, academies and cultural institutions of Modern India. But for Nehru's leadership, independent India would not have become what it is today," This statement of Dr. Singh has great importance in contemporary times, as Nehru is being denigrated by Hindu nationalists for all the problems which India is facing today and attempts are on to undermine his role and glorifying Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. This is also significant as it gives us the glimpses of what Nationalism meant for Nehru.

As Singh’s statement captures the present nationalism being practiced by BJP and company, the Hindu nationalists, immediately shot back saying that Dr. Singh is supporting the anti India activities at JNU and Jamia and his party is supporting the anti India nationalists. They asked whether Singh likes the nationalism of the likes of Shashi Tharoor or Manishankar Ayer who are provoking the Shaheen Bagh protest rather than making the protestors quiet. Whether he likes the anti national protests which go on at JNU or Jamia? As per them there is no Nationalism in Congress. One more example being cited is the private visit of Shatrughan Sinha who talked to Pakistani President during his visit there recently!

Most of the arguments being used to oppose Dr. Singh are very superficial. What is being referred to; is not opposition to Indian nationalism and its central values which were the core of anti colonial struggles. While ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ may not be acceptable to a section of population, even the book he was releasing has the title ‘Who is Bharat Mata’. What is being stated by Singh is the twist which slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ has been used by Hindu nationalists to frighten the religious minorities.

Indian nation came into being on the values, which later were the foundation of Indian Constitution. Indian Constitution carefully picked up the terminology which was away from the concepts of Hindu or Muslim nationalism. That’s how the country came to be called as ‘India that is Bharat’. The freedom of expression which was the hallmark of freedom movement and it was given a pride of place in our Constitution. It respected the diversity and formulated rules where the nation was not based on particular culture, as Hindu nationalists will like us to believe, but cultural diversity was centrally recognized in the Constitution. In addition promoting good relations with neighbors and other countries of the World was also part of our principles.

JNU, Jamia and AMU are being demonized as most institutions so far regard the freedom of expression as a core part of Indian democracy. These institutions have been thriving on discussions and debates which have base in liberalism. Deliberately some slogans have been constructed to defame these institutions. While Constitution mandates good relations with neighbors, creation of ‘Anti Pakistan hysteria’ is the prime motive of many a channels and sections of other media, which are servile to the ideology of ruling Government. They also violate most of the norms of ethical journalism, where the criticism of the ruling party is an important factor to keep the ruling dispensation in toes.

A stifling atmosphere has been created during last six years. In this the Prime Minster can take a detour, land in Pakistan to have a cup of tea with Pakistan PM, but a Congress leader talking to Pakistani President is a sign of being anti National. Students taking out a march while reading the preamble of Indian Constitution are labeled as anti-national; and are stopped while those openly wielding guns near Jamia or Shaheen Bagh roam freely.

Nationalism should promote amity and love of the people; it should pave the way for growth and development. Currently the nationalism which is dominant and stalking the streets has weakened the very fraternity, which is one of the pillars of our democracy. Nehru did explain that Bharat Mata is not just our mountains, rivers and land but primarily the people who inhabit the land. Which nationalism to follow was settled during the freedom movement when Muslim nationalism and Hindu nationalism were rejected by the majority of people of India in favor of the Nationalism of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Maulana Azad, where minorities are equal citizens, deserving affirmative action. In today’s scenario the Hindu nationalists cannot accept any criticism of their policies.

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