TN Governor asserted he will never clear Anti-Neet Bill

The Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi reconfirmed that he will never clear the Tamil Nadu government’s anti-NEET bill. This statement has drawn sharp criticism from the ruling party in the state.

While speaking at the event in Raj Bhavan, Governor RN Ravi was asked that the Tamil Nadu government has been against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for the past five to six years. The person who question RN Ravi also mentioned that students have been unable to cope with the NEET pressure.

Governor RN Ravi was interacting with top NEET scorers in UG-2023 at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday. Ravi said achievements without the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) were not enough for the future. The qualifying test is here to stay, he asserted.

“Look, I will be the last man to give clearance; never, ever. I do not want my children to feel intellectually disabled. I want our children to compete and be the best. They have proved it,” he said.

His categorical statement came in response to a parent, who sought for the Governor’s “clearance to ban NEET,” an obvious reference to his assent to the Tamil Nadu Assembly bills seeking exemption for the state from the ambit of the central exam.

“I am telling you very frankly, I will never give clearance to NEET (bill). Let it be very clear. Anyway, it has gone to the President because it is a subject of Concurrent List, it is a subject which only the President is competent to give clearance to,” Ravi added.

“Whatever is there in the CBSE book, nothing beyond is needed. Many students, I have seen cleared it, cleared it well without going to coaching institutions. The book they have prescribed — the CBSE book, that is a standard. If the standard is lower than that, don’t blame that standard. Try to raise the standard,” he said.

CBSE standard is a “very good syllabus and NEET is not beyond that”, Ravi added. “Let there not be any confusion, NEET is going to stay in the country. I want my children to be competitive, to be the best in the country,” he added.

The state Assembly had last year once again adopted a Bill seeking exemption for Tamil Nadu from NEET, after the Governor returned it earlier.

Tamil Nadu has been staunchly opposed to NEET, with both the previous AIADMK government and the incumbent ruling DMK adopting Assembly bills seeking exemption for the state from its ambit. In Tamil Nadu a number of medical aspirants have allegedly died by suicide, either due to a failure to crack the exam or over apprehensions of not being able to clear it.

The Governor has in the past also come under intense criticism from the ruling DMK-led bloc and many other quarters for returning the Assembly bills to the government.