The central government's emphasis on one nation one exam is only to rob the states of their rights to admission, said Dr Srinivas Rajkumar T, General Secretary of the Resident Doctors' Association, AIIMS commenting on the decision to conduct the Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET) for admission to PG courses in Institutes of National Importance.
INI-CET is a new common entrance test that has replaced all the postgraduate entrance tests of AIIMS, JIPMER, NIMHANS and others for admission into postgraduate courses such as MD, MS, DM (6 years), MCh (6 years) and MDS. The INI-CET will be conducted twice a year typically in the month of May for admission to the July session in the same year and month of November for admission starting January in the succeeding year. INI-CET will be administered by AIIMS, New Delhi and it shall be the sole authority for the conduct of the examination, declaration of results and seat allocation. INI-CET 2021 will be conducted on November 20, in computer-based test (CBT) mode. Results are expected to be announced on November 27, one week from the current exam date.
Dr Rajkumar said that not only will the exam be discriminatory, but the first batch who will sit for the exam will also have a lot of difficulty with the exam. "When the opportunity arises, they (central government) try to maintain these INI's close to the Centre and less accessible for state students. INI-CET will be conducted twice as INIs have admissions twice in a year while NEET is conducted only once in a year. PGI and AIIMS had different exam patterns and now with AIIMS conducting the pattern of exams is not clear. The first batch will have difficulty facing the exam. TN CM has already written regarding the issue with centres allotted in the nearby state for TN students," he added.
PG entrance will happen in one way or another, said Dr Rajkumar. "The issue is about who conducts it and how it is conducted, how the federal structure of participation of state is respected as health is a state subject and how social justice is preserved using a reservation," added the young doctor. The entire process has to be rethought and states and their doctors should be taken into confidence," he added.
