Tamil Nadu's Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu, on January 27, renewed the state government's request to Governor RN Ravi for his assent to the anti-NEET Bill that seeks Tamil Nadu to be exempted from the test.
The Bill has been pending with Ravi for around four months, the Minister requested him to forward it to the President as soon as possible. Thennarasu made this request following a statement the Governor made in his Republic Day address.
The Governor had claimed in his speech that before the introduction of NEET, the share of students from government schools to the seats in government medical colleges was hardly one per cent, and thanks to the affirmative action of 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students in Tamil Nadu, the number has improved significantly.
Referring to this remark, the Minister said, "The 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students is only a temporary relief and exempting NEET for Tamil Nadu will be the permanent solution to the issues faced by the state students."
Thennarasu pointed out that in the government quota merit list, based on the NEET marks, 579 of the first 1,000 are CBSE students. The number of state board students is 394 and the number of students from ICSC and other boards is 27.
"The 7.5 per cent reservation may help to some extent in setting right this difference. However, students who are not able to get coaching from private centres by paying high fees are affected. For them, the medical course admission should be done based on the marks scored in their higher secondary course. For that, the NEET should be exempted totally for Tamil Nadu," he said.
The Governor, in his speech, had also said, "While it is important that the Tamil language is given a wider spread in the rest of the country, it is also important that our school students learn other Indian languages like students in other states." The Governor had said that depriving students in Tamil Nadu of knowledge about other Indian languages is unfair. He had said that apart from fostering brotherhood and mutual appreciation, a linguistic, intellectual and cultural cross-pollination would enrich all and open several opportunities for harmonious growth.
The Minister, referring to these remarks of Governor Ravi that hinted at the implementation of the three-language formula in Tamil Nadu, said, "Those who know the history of the language struggle in Tamil Nadu will understand that the phrase 'other language' used by the Governor only projected learning Hindi."
He added, "After a long struggle, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had promised that Hindi would not be imposed on non-Hindi-speaking States. Since 1967 after the DMK government assumed office, all successive governments had been following only two-language policy."
"However, the two-language policy of Tamil Nadu government didn't hinder the students' educational aspirations and in getting opportunities to reach key responsibilities. I hope the Governor would have known this face," the Minister said.
